Rebellion
by minisnezza
Summary: Set a year after the events of Independance... Anna Fairclough is a normal girl, in a normal life in England. But things take a turn for the worse one rainy afternoon... does love at first sight really exist? And can she accept it?
1. Chapter 1

N.B this story takes place after the events of Independence, in London, England, where Caleb and Maggie are sorting out the Virtuoso Council in preparation for the Reunification.

**Chapter 1**

I walked towards the car park, fuming silently. How could she have ditched me? I forced myself to take a calm breath. No, Lillian wouldn't ditch me for no reason- she wasn't like that. I got my phone out and tried phoning her again. Still no answer. Glancing at the iron-grey clouds which loomed overhead, I sped up, texting Lillian in case she did turn up to find me not there (not that she would- she was an hour late) and increased my pace further, hoping to get back before the rain hit. The weather had said we were in for a storm tonight. It was summer but it felt decidedly cold. I guess that's England for you. I pulled my jacket around me tighter and pulled the hood up over my light brown hair.

I turned into the park, which led to the road where I had parked, not surprised to find it deserted. It was getting darker every moment. _Just 5 more minutes,_ I begged the sky, almost running in my haste. I absolutely hated driving in the rain, but that couldn't be helped. Not looking where I was going, I walked into a guy and nearly fell over.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I apologised to the man as he grabbed my arm to stop me falling. "No problem!" he sneered, but didn't let go of my arm. He sounded American and was black haired and tall, menacing-looking. I started to get nervous. Why wasn't he letting my arm go? "Um, thanks… can you let me go?" I asked, but realised how stupid I sounded. He wasn't going to let me go. I began to panic as he glanced at me as he waited for something, and then I saw a few other people coming our way, well running really. I heard one of them shout "there he is!"

I suddenly felt a stinging slap on my face and he began to drag me by my arm towards the entrance to the dead end bin alleyway where the empty houses were. I started to struggle, a little belatedly, but he was strong and easily held me. I tried to scream, but before I could get more than a squeak out, he clapped his hand on my mouth and then pulled out a gun.

"I'll kill you if you call out or try to run. You understand?" I noticed now that he had a hard and cruel voice. I nodded slowly but he hit my face with the side of the gun and I almost collapsed from the pain. My vision blacked out for several seconds. Why did he hit me when I told him I'd do what he said? "Do you understand?" he roared, slapping me again. I cried out but he just clapped his hand over my mouth again and grabbed my hair. He half-dragged me towards the alley but I guess he didn't know it was a dead end as we seemed to be running away from the people behind us. I certainly wasn't going to tell him that though. I screamed out as he practically pulled my hair out, yanking on it hard. Why did he need me?

He reached the small area where the bins were overflowing and an overpowering stink pervaded the air. I attempted not to throw up and gagged silently. He looked around wildly for an escape route, then shook me violently. "Where is the way out?" he yelled at me, pushing me over hard. My side and shoulder hit the ground brutally and I felt like I had maybe bruised something crucial. I struggled to breathe, winded, as I lay on the filthy floor feeling my eye rapidly swelling up.

His head whipped round as the three people rounded the corner and he grabbed my up by my hair, causing me to groan in pain again, having still not regained my breath. He held me towards his chest like a shield and put his gun to my temple. I shook from pain, fright and cold as the wind began to pick up. The three people stopped, looking worried. There were two guys and a girl. She was pretty and had green eyes and freckles. One of the guys, holding her hand, was tall, muscled and had brown, shaggy hair. Before I could see the third guy, the one holding me yanked my head up again.

"Marcus," one of the guys began. He was American too. "Come on, man. Don't take it out on the girl."

"So you can just stop me? Not likely!" he snarled and jerked my head again. I think I may have blacked out for a few seconds, because when I could hear again, Marcus was speaking again.

"So, Maggie," he crooned mockingly. "Will you risk this," he shook me, "human girl's life to capture me? Can you stop me before I pull the trigger?" None of them made any move. This was an impossible situation, a stalemate. I was pretty sure I wasn't getting out of this one alive. I was barely coherent, but managed to form a thought. _There's no way out._ I realised, closing my eyes.

"No! We're not going to sacrifice you just to get him!" she shouted, looking at me. I definitely hadn't said that out loud. "Aw, looks like we got ourselves a martyr," Marcus scoffed and kicked me in the leg, making me collapse again, but he was still holding my hair, so all I succeeded in doing was further ripping my hair out, but I couldn't hold myself up any more. It felt like my scalp was coming off as well as my hair.

It began to rain, the tapping on the metal bins growing louder every second. I just managed to hold my eyes open to see the girl, Maggie, I presumed, step forward.

"Marcus," she said gently. "Let her go and we'll talk."

"We're done talking!" he yelled, pressing the gun to my head threateningly. I squeezed my eyes shut. This was it. I was strangely at peace, I knew that these people were trying to help, but once I was dead there was nothing to stop them taking him down. The guy had that look on his face, the 'I want to kick this guy's butt so bad' look. _I wish I could've told dad goodbye. _I was soaked to the skin now and shivering violently.

Marcus was still yelling, but I was beyond hearing. Maggie had her hands up and she looked to be concentrating. I thought I saw the gun fly out of Marcus' hands but he was holding it and no-one was near him so that couldn't be possible. I fell suddenly, no longer held up by my hair and caught a glimpse of Marcus jumping over the wall at the far end of the space we were in, using the bins to pull himself up. The brown-haired guy made to follow him, but the girl grabbed his shirt and kissed him first. "Stay safe," she told him. "Always," he replied and followed where Marcus had gone, swiftly vaulting the wall. She and the other guy came to me and knelt beside me.

"Hello, can you hear me?" she asked, touching my shoulder. I tried to speak, to say I was fine.

"She's ok," she told the guy behind her.

"Yeah," I managed to croak. My throat felt sore.

"Do you think anything's broken?"

"No, I don't think so," I replied, mentally assessing myself. She seemed relieved and helped me sit up carefully. She quickly introduced herself.  
"Hi, I'm Maggie. This is Luc," she gestured to the guy beside her. "I'm so sorry you had to get involved in this. We'll take you to the nearest hospital."

"Don't worry, I don't need the hospital," I cleared my throat. "Just some help to my car maybe. I don't live far away. Sorry, I'm Anna."

"You don't look like you're in a fit state to drive," Maggie told me quietly. "At least let us drive you to your house."

"No, really, I'm fine, I'll be fine," I corrected myself. I started to get up, but realised my leg was numb where Marcus had kicked me. I collapsed with a cry, but before I hit the ground, I fell into strong arms. Luc's. He helped me to my feet and stayed there, holding my arm to make sure I didn't fall over again. I smiled at him, meaning to thank him, but when I looked at him, my stomach flipped over. He had warm hazel eyes and tousled dark brown hair. I stared into his eyes much longer than was polite, but he was doing the same, looking at me with a somewhat curious and marvelling expression. I managed to stutter my thanks to him, going extremely red at my incoherence. Wordlessly, he wrapped an arm under my shoulders to support me and began to help me limp to my car. Seemed like a long distance when I was trying to outrun the rain, but with a hurt leg and in the rain, it was so much further. We finally got there, soaked to the skin and me on the brink of collapsing again and shaking like a leaf.

Maggie suddenly turned, and a second later the other guy appeared, breathless. He shook his head and puffed, hands on his knees.

"Couldn't catch him. Disappeared somewhere," he panted. Luc grunted angrily, drawing his attention. He looked questioning for a moment, then smiled widely and went to Maggie, holding her hand.

"Hi, I'm Caleb, Maggie's husband," he told me, smiling. "Hi," I replied, uncomfortably. They were married? Maggie looked to be my age, just 18, or possibly a bit older. I was not good with strangers, even friendly ones. "Are you Ok for Caleb to drive?" Maggie asked me as I got out my keys. I nodded and handed them over to Caleb, muttering that it was a manual gear shift, uncomplaining now. I would never be able to drive in this state, not when I could barely keep my eyes open.

Maggie got in another car and followed us whilst I gave him directions to my empty house. I got out, and turned round to them. "Thanks for the lift, and for… well, before." I said, awkwardly.

"It's no problem- I'm just sorry you had to get caught up in all this. We'll make sure Marcus doesn't come back," Maggie said, determinedly.

I turned towards the house, but I had barely gone a step when I collapsed for a second time, jarring my already bruised butt. Luc offered a hand to help me up and I took it, not that I normally grabbed stranger's hands. I just felt some kind of pull to him, that I knew I was safe with him. He helped me up, but just as he was about to let my hand go, I felt a jolt. A weird jolt, like I had been shocked by an electric fence or my blood decided to spontaneously combust. It wasn't a bad feeling, just strange. Then, my blood decided to freeze and my skin felt oddly hot, even in the freezing rain. He didn't let my hand go as suddenly, pictures swam before my eyes. I gasped. No, they were _visions_.

In the first one, I saw myself and Luc, sitting on a bed I didn't recognise, me looking at my phone with my head on his shoulder and him playing with my hair. As I watched, he tugged at a piece playfully, and I turned and ruffled his hair teasingly in retaliation. He gave me a 'now you've done it look' and began to tickle me as we both laughed. The second was of a moonlit garden with fairy lights around. I was wearing a red dress and him a red shirt. We were both barefoot and danced slowly, my head resting on his chest and his arms round my waist. I buried my face in his shirt, but he brought my chin up with his finger and brought his lips to mine. The last was of me crying on the floor of a room, hugging my knees. He sat next to me and touched my back. I threw myself into his chest, sobbing and shaking as his arms came around me. His face showed that he was hurting as much as I was. He held my cheek and kissed me softly on the lips. I continued to clutch at him as I kissed him back desperately. Finally, I saw me, here in the rain, with Luc holding my arm in his. My face was the very picture of confused but strangely joyful. His was the same, but without the confusion. He _knew _what was happening.

My eyes opened and I saw his face, looking exactly as it had in the vision, utterly amazed and utterly happy. I stared into his open brown eyes that looked at me with certainty and joy and somehow, everything felt right with him, even though I was so confused. Then, he spoke the first word I'd heard from him. "Anna," he said, looking awed. His voice had that throaty sound that people had when they weren't speaking their mother tongue. I bit my lip and tried not to make it look like I thought his voice was extremely sexy. What was I doing? I suddenly remembered what I'd seen and heard and started to back away from them both. I shook my head.

"What are you?" I asked Maggie, frightened of her now. No normal person could have made a gun fly out of a grown man's hand without even touching him and answer thoughts. She glanced at Luc, raising her eyebrows in question. He nodded to her and proceeded to tell me the most unbelievable story I had ever heard.

She began, "Ok, before you ask, I'm not an alien." I raised my eyebrows- that had not occurred to me. She continued, "What I am, what we are, has a few names. We're called Virtuoso or Charmed, but mostly we call ourselves Aces. We're practically human, there's just one major difference. Some of us have… abilities. Like superpowers, but these only come when there's an imprint and an ascension. Ever read Twilight? Well, it's something like that; we find our soul mates. You've just imprinted with Luc. He's your, and you're his, Significant.

"Your souls, your bodies, your minds, all chose the other; you're perfectly matched in every way. You were made to be together- you are meant, destined, even. You need each other's touch, so when you're apart, you get… withdrawal symptoms from each other. You'll be fine for a few hours, just not for, say, a week. You'll get sick if you're not around each other." She winced at some memory or other and stopped. I just stared. This could not be happening, she was mad, they were all mad.

"Please, we're not mad," she told me, surprising me. "My ability, well part of it, is reading thoughts. I try not to some of the time because it's rude to pry into people's minds, but I can hear thoughts. I also have telekinesis, which is how I managed to get the gun away from Marcus."

I shook my head, slowly, then faster. "No," I said. Caleb exchanged a glance with Maggie. I dropped Luc's hand and started to back away, my leg only just supporting my weight.

"Anna, wait, let us explain!" Maggie pleaded, but I was done. This was too weird for me. Telekinesis? Mind reading? No, it was too much. They could keep their stupid imprints, I wasn't going to just be someone's 'significant', just because we touched. Not even a hot guy like Luc. It felt like my body was rebelling against me and I was walking against a rope, pulling me back, but I just had to get away. Caleb started to follow me, but Luc put his hand on his arm, stopping him, and walked forward. He stopped after a few steps, then said gently, "I will wait, as long as it takes. When you want me to explain, I will come." He stopped and took a breath, like it was physically difficult to let me go, looked down and shut his eyes for a second before sighing and looking at me again. I turned and limped away, feeling his eyes on me all the way to my door. I wanted, needed to look back, but I wasn't about to embark on some fake freaky thing that forced me and someone else to be together, or whatever. Luc's face popped into my head as I slammed the door and tossed the keys in the bowl. I pushed the image away. I was not going to think about him. I went to the bathroom to have a shower.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! Sorry this chapter is a lot shorter than the last one- it's pretty much just a filler but I'm in the middle of exams currently. So I'm just biding my time with not so important chapters until I get them out of the way so I can concentrate on getting the important chapters really good!**

**Minion- Thanks for being my first reviewer! It makes me very happy to know at least ****_someone_**** is reading it!**

**Guest- Thanks so much! I'll probably start with Anna seeing some of Luc's memories before I attempt a whole chapter in his POV? And more will be revealed in chapter 3, when we'll find out more about the plot... so please bear with me!**

"We're home!" dad shouted as I heard the front door slam. I made my way downstairs just as the oven timer went off. "Perfect timing, as always!" I told him, rushing past quickly whilst trying not to limp, seeing the potatoes beginning to boil over. "Oh, so the potatoes are more important than me then!" he shouted playfully after me. "Yes, of course!" I bantered as I brought the pie out.

He caught a glance of my face and my swollen eye, which I could barely see out of, and did a double take. "What happened?!" he exclaimed, stopping me and looking closer. "Oh, I er…" I stopped, trying to look embarrassed. "I fell over," I admitted, perfectly truthfully. "When did this happen?" he asked, still concerned. "It looks bad, you need to go see the doctor," he told me, pushing back my hair to see the wonderful shades of green and purple it was already going. I waved his hand away. "Dad, come on, it's fine, head wounds always look worse than they are!"

He looked unconvinced, but let the subject drop, inhaling the smell of pie deeply. "Ah, you always know what I need!" he exclaimed, helping himself to a huge mound of potatoes. I don't know how he wasn't fat, the way he ate. "Did they starve you then?" I asked jokingly as he took half the pie. "Hey! There won't be enough for mum when she gets back!" He shrugged as his mouth was full to bursting, then swallowed hugely and said "as you would put it, 'she snossed, so she lost'." I spluttered over my own pie. "What? You can't say that!"

"Why can't I say that? Was that not the right phrase?"

"Um, well yes it was, but 'you snossed, you lost', i.e. the past tense of 'you snooze, you lose', is only for people under 30."

"Aw," he pouted humorously, "why?"

"Because you're supposed to say something boring like 'she didn't come in on time, so she missed out'."

"But it takes so much longer to say," he whined.

"I've learned that people, especially adults, always say things that take 10 words when 1 will do."

"Spoken like a true Fairclough!" he joked, "The family that never wastes words!"

We finished dinner in this way, chatting companionably, until he got a phone call from Mum. Her flight was cancelled due to high winds so she was going to go straight to wherever her next conference was rather than coming via home. Sometimes I hated it that my parents were always away, especially since I turned 18. I used to see my dad each evening when he came in from work, but when I became old enough to be left alone in the house, he began to stay up in London for the week as it was a long commute. Mum worked in lots of different countries- often for long periods of time since she was an interpreter for peace talks. Peace talks were always going on, so she was often away.

So, I spent my time mostly alone in the house, but the rules weren't too strict. I sometimes invited friends round, but I was lonely and missed the sound of people in the house, especially since my brother Jaime left last year to go to university in Wales. It was good that I passed my driving test when I did so I could get myself around rather than having to beg lifts from everyone. After I had cleaned up, Dad went to crash, having, no doubt, barely slept and ate all week. I watched him carefully until he left the room before limping to the sofa to watch TV. I was also trying to ignore the ache I was beginning to feel, especially in my back and legs. I started to feel a bit shaky, so I went to bed, hoping I hadn't gotten ill from my earlier stint in the rain. There was this niggle in the back of my head and a certain face kept invading my thoughts. I forced myself not to think of it. I hoped Luc could reverse it or something; because I was not going to put up with this- I couldn't believe he would suddenly decide to make it so that it physically hurt to be without him. Thinking about him just made it worse, so I tried to get some uneasy sleep.

The next morning I felt terrible when I woke up, and looked it too when I saw myself in the mirror. I looked paler than I normally did, which was saying something as my normal skin tone was pale anyway, and I had big bags under my eyes. I felt worse than yesterday and debated staying in bed, but I didn't have a temperature, so I hoped it would go away soon. In the meantime, I put on some makeup to conceal the worst. I toyed with my breakfast, not hungry, until there was a knock on the door and I went to open it, still limping slightly, expecting the postman, dad being the lazy bones he was and still in bed. He was more of a teenager than me! But it was _him_. He looked surprised for a second, then swallowed. My eyes followed the movement, and my body began to fight with me. It wanted to rush to him and feel his arms around me, it _needed_ to be with him. I fought the impulse to throw myself into his arms and crossed them instead. He held out some letters and cleared his throat.

"Um, we got the post addressed to your house, I guess because we're both number one. I'm staying round the corner with Maggie and Caleb."

"Oh, thanks," I heard myself say and reached out to take the letters and various other things, making sure to avoid brushing my fingers as I… no, my body so wanted to.

"Please, let me explain." he asked simply.

"Why would you do this to me?" I asked, low and fierce.

"I had no idea it would happen," he began softly.

"No," I said, my voice beginning to rise, "you knew it might happen if you touched me, and now you expect me to be fine with it, well it's not real, you can't just fake love!" I was nearly shouting by now, annoyed beyond reason with him, but also knowing, in my heart, that I was being more than a little unreasonable. I forced myself to take a breath, glancing up to make sure Dad hadn't woken up. Luc spoke calmly, but his accent slightly stronger before, indicating he was probably upset. No, I knew he was upset. I didn't know how I knew, but my body was telling me to comfort him because there was something wrong. He didn't look at me as he spoke.

"I told you I would wait. And I will, as long as it takes. And when I have explained, I will go, if that's what you want." He paused, then looked right into my eyes.

"I will put what you want before what I want, but I'm sorry, there's no way to reverse it. I can't stop an imprint, no-one can. I'm sorry that this happened to you. Even though I wouldn't want to, if it stopped you hurting and if I could, I would stop the imprint. But I can't." he finished gently. That was the sweetest thing a guy had ever said to me, and my heart jumped in my chest until I remembered that this was not real, none of it was. That was the only explanation, the emotion was faked. It was just his imprint talking, not actual affection for me. He saw my face harden and the look on his face made me want to run into his arms. No, made my body want to. I shut the door, waiting until I heard him leave before leaning my back against it, cursing my shaking legs. I stood, glued to that spot, for what felt like ages, until finally I gathered my spinning head and went to watch TV again, hoping I'd feel better soon.

It didn't get better. I felt worse and worse as I moped around, doing nothing. Dad even commented that I looked ill and he was normally in a world of his own. I went to bed early again with only the pains and kinks in my muscles telling me that some part of this was true. It didn't help that Dad was going away for 2 weeks to India tomorrow. He was very worried and wanted to postpone it, but I persuaded him to go anyway, saying that I'd be fine soon and saying he was being melodramatic. I was pretty sure that was a lie.

The next day was worse. And the next. How was that possible? I felt absolutely drained, and not just tired drained, even though I'd done nothing for 3 days, absolutely exhausted, life-sucking drained. I began to regret sending Dad off, was it two or three days ago? I didn't get headaches, but this felt like a steamroller had run over my head. My legs cramped, my stomach cramped. I hadn't eaten anything since the pie, so I heaved uselessly over and over. It couldn't get any worse, surely.

**Ooh, cliffhanger (slightly!) I'm sorry nothing was particularly revealed apart from some back-story for Anna, but I want to have more time to reveal the plot, so I probably won't be uploading the next chapter until at least the 20th. Sorry :( Anyways, hope you enjoyed it, any comments 'please keep going!' or even 'I hate it, write better' would be appreciated, I always love feedback, even negative! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone! So sorry for the wait, I am now free from exams! Thanks to everyone who took the time to review, it means a lot. Anyway, this chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I should hopefully be publishing the next chapter sooner to make up for the long wait- most of it is already written, I just need to make some changes... So here is chapter 3**

**Chapter 3**

It did get worse. It was now almost a week exactly since I had touched Luc that first time. Dad was really worried and kept insisting that I went to hospital, but what could I tell them? That I had a connection with some guy who was making me ill? He wanted to get the next available flight back, but I persuaded him not to. How was I supposed to explain to a doctor, let alone my dad, why I was ill? I had barely been able to keep anything down and was only just keeping hydrated. I was seriously scared that it would not get better. Then I realised: it wouldn't. It would only get worse. I couldn't fight this. I had to talk to Luc. The thought only brought another round of spasms and retching. I didn't know what else to do but to go to my mind and trying to send some kind of message, maybe to Luc, maybe to Maggie. She had said she could read minds, right?

_Please, come. Luc? Maggie?_

It was all I could manage before my brain, clouded with pain, lost coherent thought. It couldn't have been very long, a few minutes at most, although it felt like an hour, every agonising second felt like an hour, before I vaguely heard a noise at the door. I was too lost in the pain to be able to think properly. Next thing I knew, he burst through the door, then stopped dead at the sight of me. His face reflected the pain he was feeling, all for me. Could he really care and not just his body?

"What's happened to me?" I gasped out, retching over and over. He came to my side, knelt down on the floor and looked earnestly at my barely open eyes.

"Withdrawals," he told me simply. Of course, Maggie had told me something about them, but I had no idea they were this bad. Luc looked angry. Why was he angry at me?

"What do I do?" I whispered, looking into his eyes. In answer, he held out his hand for me to take. He was giving me the choice; still, even though he could have just taken my hand, he still wanted me to have a way out. I took his hand. Nothing happened. He looked confused for a second, before his face cleared.

"You have to accept it," he told me quietly. I could barely think. What was he trying to get me to do? Accept what? So, as much as I could, I tried to stop panicking and wait for something to happen. And happen it did. My crippling pains, aching, violent shaking and vomiting went, just like that; it was as if they were never there in the first place. But I realised that wasn't quite true. I still felt weak from lack of food and the confusion hadn't disappeared, but the difference was enough to make me feel strange and light.

I was still holding Luc's hand, but I didn't let it go. His hand was warm and felt just right in mine. Looking at him properly, I saw that he didn't look good. There were dark rings under his eyes and he was pale and looked a little unsteady. I realised that it must have been both of us that got 'withdrawals', not just me. I made me feel really bad that my stubbornness was making him ill as well. I wanted to help him but we were touching so his should have gone like mine, surely? "Your turn," I whispered to him. He looked surprised for a second, then stopped as his face cleared. He looked healthy again, but still with dark rings under his eyes. Even though he had looked really bad, he hadn't been as ill as me, because he was able to come and see me, whilst I hadn't been able to get out of bed. I wondered why that was.

"Because you're human," he answered softly, surprising me because he seemed to be able to read my mind. He frowned, seeming angry again, and I remembered when he was angry before. Why was he angry again? What had I done? Without a word, he turned around and walked out the room, closing the door behind him. I buried my head under the covers to think, sighing deeply. What had I done to make him angry, and then leave? I already missed his presence which had caused a deep calm in me. I ached inside, not just my body, me, for him to come back, to explain.

I heard footsteps and lifted my head to see him come back into the room, carrying a tray with soup and several glasses of water. He carefully helped me to sit up and I felt my weakness and slight dizziness more acutely. He carefully set the tray on my knees and pulled up a chair, sitting on it backwards and resting his chin and arms on it. He stared at me intently for a few seconds as I stared at him silently.

"I'll answer all the questions I can," he told me gently.

"Why were you angry at me?" I asked him, worried.

"Angry at you?" he asked, surprised. "I was not angry at you. I was angry that you had to be in pain, that us imprinting meant that you didn't have a choice, that I took your choice away. I am sorry you thought I was angry at you."

That did it. I started sobbing, heaving great big sobs that were a culmination of my relief at the ordeal being over, that he was thoughtful enough to think of bringing me soup and water and that he was angry because he thought it was his fault that he had caused me pain and taken away my choice. It kind of was, well, not even kind of. It _was_ my fault for staying away on purpose, but he looked genuinely sorry for it. Most of all, it was his overwhelming sweetness and kindness. He quickly took the tray off my shaking legs and took me into his arms. They felt warm and familiar and so safe. I sobbed into his chest and he squeezed me tightly. I heard his heartbeat, but it sounded uneven, like it was twice as fast as it should be and he was having a heart attack. I pulled back in alarm. "Your heartbeat, it's really fast and uneven, do you need a doctor?!" I panicked. "No," he answered me softly. "When we imprinted, I felt you heartbeat next to mine. I will always feel it." I put a hand against my own chest and, sure enough, felt one set of his match up perfectly. My heartbeat was literally in his chest, right next to his. I looked up at his face, astounded, and saw his small smile.

"You have to eat all of that," he told me sternly, replacing the tray on my lap. I dug in happily, gulping it all down, my appetite having returned in full force now that I didn't feel sick any more.

"Ask whatever questions you want," he said, resting his chin on his arms on the back of his chair again. I noticed he had a tattoo on his wrist.

"What's that, on your wrist?" I asked, nodding to it. He held it out to me to look at. It was shaped like an ornate weeping willow tree, curled round in a c shape. It was small but very elegant.

"It's my clan tattoo. We are all born with them, according to our clan, but only Aces and our significants can see them. My clan is the Renou clan. Maggie and Caleb are from the Jacobson clan. Their tattoo is a half-moon."  
"It's good they're invisible," I told him jokingly, "because my Dad would probably disown me if he found out I was involved with a guy who had a tattoo!" He chuckled at that. I frowned at the tray, biting my lip, realising what I had implied- that I was 'involved' with Luc. I took a bite of soup-covered bread and chewed, trying to sort out the millions of questions in my head.

"Where are you from?" I asked, curious about his accent.

"I'm from Paris, France," he replied.

"What about Maggie and Caleb?"

"They are from Tennessee," replied.

"So, these 'clans', they're from all over then?" I asked.

"Yes, there are two in Paris, where I live, there's one in Prague, one in Sydney, four, well, three now, in America- Illinois and Tennessee, and two here, in London," he replied.

"Um, can you read my mind as well?" I asked tentatively.

"We will both be able to read each other's minds eventually, but it takes practice. Now, I can only sense your emotions, but we will be able to talk, sooner or later." He stopped, gauging my reaction. I was a bit shocked, but I could tell he expected me to freak out more than I did. I nodded, a little shakily, and then carried on.

"Why do we get withdrawals?"

"I will start with the imprint. When we touched, our bodies, minds, souls, whatever you want to call it, they see each other, and they see we are a perfect match. In every way, we complement each other. Together, we work better, think better, function better, sleep better…" he muttered the last one softly, not looking at me. I felt my cheeks turning pink at the mention of sleep, but then I realised how tired I was, practically swaying, and forgot what I was about to ask.

Luc took the tray off my knees and helped me lie back down under the covers. I drifted off almost immediately with my Significant by my side.

**More of the plot will be revealed next chapter... (now if that doesn't make you come back, I don't know what will...)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, so I thought I'd tell you the basis for this story... four chapters in. Oops. I basically thought 'what would I do if I imprinted?' and kind of went from there, so some of Anna's character traits are based on mine (including some of the bad ones!) such as her cynicism (especially of love), hating PDA (Public Displays of Affection) and not really wasting words, as well as some other stuff which will be revealed later. So I thought- obviously I would not believe in love at first sight until I was persuaded... then, who knows? So, yeah, chapter 1 came to me in a dream (as do all my story ideas) and I went from there. I am totally in love with Luc, but Anna isn't... yet. **

**So anyway, thanks for all the reviews, they are so encouraging and I know I'm being repetitive, but they are! I already had most of this chapter written and I'm sorry again not that much happens as it's a plot revealing/ setting up chapter, but I think an exciting chapter will be on the way soon. ****Sorry for going on, I'll shut up. Here is:**

**Chapter 4**

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. I didn't have to adjust or climb out of sleep like it was a mountain, I was immediately alert. I found my hand wrapped in something warm. I opened my eyes to see that I had apparently grabbed Luc's hand at some point during the night. I lifted my head and saw his resting near my stomach. It looked very uncomfortable and I wondered why he had stayed.

I studied him, enjoying the opportunity to see him without him watching me. I looked with envy at his long lashes and saw that he had lightly tanned skin and golden-brown hair. He was tall, probably over 6 feet, and was fairly muscly. Not too much to look unnatural for a guy of around my age, I guessed, but still- he was hot. At that moment, he stirred, interrupting my observations. He opened his hazel eyes and looked at me wordlessly. I quickly pulled my hand out from his and cleared my throat, suddenly conscious of how dirty and dishevelled I must have looked. I ran my hands through my long hair, trying to tame it a bit and blushed when I felt his eyes on me.

"You stayed?" I asked him, sitting up slowly.

"I… uh, yeah, sorry." He muttered, sitting up in his chair and biting his lip. I knew that without this imprint thing, he would never have given me the time of day. I was just a boring 18 year old who looked about 15, with boring medium length wavy mousey brown hair, boring blue-grey-green eyes and short, skinny frame, whereas he was… well, hot.

I took a deep breath. "Look, I don't even know you." I began. "And I'm supposed to be with you for the rest of my life, because we're soul mates or something? I guess I have to believe some of it, like the whole withdrawals thing, but people just don't fall in love at first sight." I sighed. I wasn't as angry, but I was still sceptical. "It just doesn't exist. Love is about personality," I continued, "and how can you fall in love with someone without even knowing their personality? I don't, I can't believe it, but… I guess you do have some explaining to do." I finished.

"Okay," he replied cautiously. "How about you drop by for breakfast?" he asked me. I agreed and he told me where his house was, then left with a smile and a "see you later".

I took a shower and headed downstairs, dropping my sheets in the wash on my way, then brushed my teeth and had another check in the mirror before I left, feeling very self-conscious. I stepped up to the driveway of their house, which, even in this rich neighbourhood in Surrey, was huge. It even had gates with ornate designs on it! I pressed the button to open the gates and walked slowly to the door. Just as I was gathering enough courage to knock, it swung open and Maggie stood there, smiling.

"Hi there!" she welcomed me enthusiastically, beckoning me in.

"So Caleb and I are staying here until the Reunification, then we is going back to college in Tennessee," she told me excitedly as we walked to the kitchen. "Luc is here from France for a year; he's staying the summer vacation with us and then going to a British university," she explained.

I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, Maggie answered my unasked question and told me about the Reunification week where all the Aces in the world met up in London. She was something called the Visionary, who was supposed to be a leader to their people. "Apparently, I can tell people what to do because I've got this mark on my neck," she laughed. "But the Council, who make all the rules for Aces, they are very resistant to change," she said, becoming more serious. "You see, because Aces were using their powers for selfish purposes, the imprints, which give us our powers once we ascend, stopped. Caleb and I were the first to imprint for a long time, and the majority of imprints that have happened since are with humans. You see, I was a human," she said, glancing at Caleb.

"Was?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. Once we ascend, we get our powers, and become true Virtuoso," she explained. "Before Aces imprint, they're basically just human, with the capacity to have a significant. And the whole tattoo thing," she smiled, unconsciously rubbing hers. I looked at the simple half-moon, with Caleb's name around the outside of it. There was also an infinity symbol in the middle, so was slightly different to Luc's. Maggie blushed when I wondered about the differences and exchanged a glance with Caleb, who smirked at her.

"Um, I think I'll leave Luc to explain the names," she told me, smiling a little. "As for the infinity symbol, we're not quite sure yet…" She sighed, and Caleb rubbed the back of her neck to calm her. I guessed that the touch did more than just heal withdrawals- it looked like it calmed each other down. It made sense, considering how I felt this morning, having slept all night holding Luc's hand. I studied the two of them surreptitiously. They looked into each other's eyes as if they were having a conversation- then I realised, they probably were. In their heads. Weird. Maggie glanced at me and smiled at that thought.

Caleb leaned in for a kiss, and I looked away just as Luc walked in, running a hand through his damp hair. His eyes immediately found mine, and we stared at each other for longer than was polite, but I couldn't look away.

The spell was broken when, from the corner of my eye, I saw Maggie smiling knowingly at Caleb. I shook my head to clear it and caught another glance of Caleb smirking at us. Blushing, I looked at the table, where breakfast was sitting. My stomach rumbled loudly and I smiled bashfully.

"Help yourself!" Maggie laughed, grabbing a bun from a pile of them and stuffing it in her mouth as quickly as politely possible and making a contented noise.

"What are they?" I asked her. They looked amazing.

"Honey buns!" Caleb replied or her, since her mouth was full to bursting. She swallowed and looked at me incredulously.

"You've never had a honey bun?!" she asked, looking extremely sad for me. "Poor you," she shook her head. I took one and tried it, taking a slightly smaller bite than Maggie. It was nice, but I wouldn't be able to eat many at a time as they were very sweet.

"Coffee? Or… tea?" Caleb asked from the kitchen counter.

"Tea, thanks," I told him, and Maggie smiled.

"So is it actually true you English drink tea all the time?" she asked, surprised, and I nodded, smiling.

"Yep, some of the stereotypes are certainly true!" I laughed. "You should see my dad- he drinks about 10 cups a day!" Caleb handed my cup over and I added a splash of milk, sitting down next to Luc. "Now if my cousin Kyle was here," he told me, smirking, "he'd say something really inappropriate like, 'how does he not need to pee the whole time?'" We all laughed and, stealing a glance at Luc, I saw he held sadness in his eyes, like he wasn't used to smiling and laughing. But, he looked hot smiling and laughing. I bit my lip, blushing again, especially since Maggie could hear everything I was thinking, and commanded myself sternly to stop. I was blushing too much this morning.

As the laughter faded, Maggie exchanged a glance with Caleb and turned serious eyes to me.

"So now you've been filled in with the Ace stuff, we need to talk about Marcus," she stated simply. I swallowed as tendrils of leftover fear clawed at me and shivered, remembering his dark eyes alive with malice. Luc looked at me with concern, and I realised he must have felt my heart speeding up with fear. He made no move to touch me, although I could tell he wanted to, badly. Again, that made my heart melt, knowing that he was refraining from making me, and probably himself, feel better by touching me and giving me that calm when he was unsure if I wanted him to. I smiled at him, and it was his selflessness, not my selfishness, that led me to lightly brush his hand, resting on the table top. The rush of clam that filled my veins was heady and my heart felt like it jumped in my chest as I met his eyes again. The corners of his mouth turned up as he felt it in his own chest and, once again, I blushed as I looked at the floor. Damit, why did I blush so easily? I couldn't believe I had all but forgotten the attack because of me imprinting and the following stupidity which led to my harming not only myself, but Luc as well. I shook my head at my idiocy and sighed, wishing I had at least listened to Luc.

I remembered what we were talking about and turned back to Maggie, who was leaning against the counter against Caleb, who was sitting on it.

"Who is he?" I asked her, scared again. She sighed.

"Marcus Watson is… supposed to be dead," she told me. My eyes widened.

"He was part of the Watson clan. They were the rival clan in Tennessee and… well, they were evil, basically. You see, every clan stopped imprinting for a long time- they got taken away because of the horrible things so many of us were doing. We were the fist to imprint for ages, unusually because I was a human, and because we were way under the normal imprint age of about 24. Turns out I was special because of me being the Visionary as well, although I'm still trying to work out what that means.

"Marcus and the Watsons captured me and tried to stop us at every turn. Well, to cut a long story short, last Reunification I stripped the whole Watson family of everything- their imprints, abilities, tattoos, everything that made them Virtuoso. But Marcus wanted revenge, so he shot me on our honeymoon. Caleb went after him; Marcus got shot, not by Caleb- by his cousin. I was sure he was dead, otherwise- how could I have been healed? See, Marcus fed us his blood, meaning we couldn't heal each other, because he was human and we had his human blood, but when he was dead, Caleb healed me. So I don't know how he can be alive…" she finished, looking worried and upset.

Caleb put his hand on the back of her neck and leaned down to kiss her to calm her down. I was not one for public displays of affection and I also realised that this was a personal moment for them, so I looked away and closed my eyes. My own fear was choking me, rising up my throat as the memories of Marcus's hand in my hair, dragging me, resurfaced. This time, it was Luc who reached out to me and rested a hand on my tightly clenched knuckles, giving me a dose of calm and lessening my fear. I smiled at him gratefully and rested my other hand over his, preventing him from lifting it away. That didn't mean I was just going to roll over and accept that I was going to be in love with this man for the rest of my life, but I couldn't deny the attraction between us, and for now, I needed him and sensed he needed me.

The moment was interrupted by Maggie, who got up and picked her phone up from the table.  
"We need to go and make some calls," she told me, grabbing Caleb's hand. "Are you okay with her?" he asked Luc. I wondered at that, then realised that it must be to protect me- Marcus had gone for me before and could do again. They left to go call whoever and I realised that my hands were still sandwiching his hand. Blushing, (again- stupid pale complexion!) I looked at him wordlessly, and he watched me. We were both comfortable with silence and the awkwardness that was present with Maggie and Caleb in the room (not that it was them- it was me, just being self-conscious) disappeared. I smiled, then I realised I had no idea how old he was. He could be my age, or older. He seemed to sense my curiosity, because he smiled. "Ask," he told me, simply. I swallowed. Why was I nervous? Was it because he was way above my league and possibly thought I was some immature little girl that he was now saddled with? "stop." he told me sternly, sensing these emotions and thoughts in my head. He moved his chair closer and took both my hands in his.

"I am the same age as you- 18. You're not just some 'little girl' and I am not 'stuck' with you. I chose you, remember? Just as you chose me." He sighed and closed his eyes for a second. I stared at him for a few seconds and swallowed. I chose him.

"Well… I chose well then," I told him, smiling. That sparkle was in his eyes again, and he stood up and offered me his arm.

"Care for a tour, my lady?" he asked, mock seriously. I stood up with a haughty expression.  
"Well, only if it is the VIP tour," I told him in a ridiculously posh voice.

"Well, of course," he tried to do a posh English accent and failed miserably. I sniffed and muttered "a commoner _and_ French," loudly. His lips twitched, and I burst into laughter. I took his arm and we went for the tour.

**I had to break up this chapter so it does end in a slightly random place. I'm on a roll at the moment so chapter 5 will hopefully be up soon, but I've got my plan sorted so I have slightly more of an idea of what I'm doing now! Please leave comments, sorry for repeating.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you so much RedHeadDiaries and graybabe for favouriting/following! And to those commenting. And to those reading! You're all awesome.**

**I've already written chapter 10(ish) but not the chapters inbetween :( I know that chapter is gonna be totally awesome, because I love writing action!**

**There's some action here, so without any further ado:**

**Chapter 5**

As he showed me his absolutely _huge_ 'holiday home' (ideally situated 40 minutes from both London and the sea) I found out more about him. He was going to study Biology at Oxford in the autumn- I had to gasp at that. It was like fate put us together- I was going to the same college to do French. He laughed at that but said, perfectly seriously, that it probably was. His family in Paris consisted of a 'very annoying' (in his words) younger sister, an absolutely mad mother and a saintly father for putting up with her and my sister. It sounded like he had an amazing family- especially as there were so many cousins and aunts and uncles that he saw so often.

Over lunch, he told me that his whole family was crazy and he used to hide in the closet when he was young just to get away from them. I tried to imagine him as a little kid, hiding in some cupboard with his hands over his ears to block out the screams and noise of his family. He looked very cute in my mind, with that thick floppy hair and big brown eyes. I smiled at the thought, just as his phone dinged, telling him Maggie and Caleb were going to the shops to get food for dinner.

"And this," he said, stopping outside a closed door, "is the room I stay in." He pushed it open and revealed a light, airy room with a large window facing the huge garden behind the house. I jumped on the extremely comfy bed and lay back with my eyes closed. He sat on the edge of the bed, making it dip down from his weight.

I hadn't even realised I'd fallen asleep until I was dreaming. I was, strangely enough, at the North Pole. Or at least, close. I knew it was the North because the South Pole was solid ground, but the North was just frozen ice. Ha, mediocre geography knowledge and I still knew where I was. But I wasn't cold. This was strange, because I had always been the girl that got cold in summer. But then, I saw him. Marcus. Followed by a guy I had to assume was a relation, because they had a similar look.

"Ah, nice to see you've joined the party," Marcus mocked, smiling menacingly. I backed away slowly as he came nearer, but then just turned and ran. The wind was rising into a gale and a snowstorm was beginning. He caught up with me laughably quickly, except no-one was laughing but Marcus. He grabbed my arm, but when he did, my arm burned like his hand was hot. He hissed and withdrew his hand, obviously feeling it as well as me. His eyes were wild and furious.

"Sikes, she's imprinted!" he shouted, louder than the wind's howling which was growing louder every second.

"I… what?" I asked, playing dumb.

"Don't play stupid, little human!" he sneered. "I know you've imprinted because I can't touch you. Well, not without some pain on my side. So, unless you want lots of offence marks, who did you imprint with?"

"You're the stupid one for talking rubbish!" I retorted bravely. In my mind, I thought that maybe I could call for Luc again.

_Luc! Help me! Marcus! He's here!_

"Who is it?!" he roared, grabbing my hair, his knuckles that grazed my head burning my scalp.

_Luc!_ I screamed in my head, but no sound came from my mouth. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Then, I heard it. His voice, calling to me.

_Anna, wake up! ANNA!_

"LUC!" I shouted. Marcus gave a triumphant smirk.

"Ha! So it _was_ that stupid Frenchie!" Don't worry, little human, you'll be seeing me again!" He shouted above the wind, shaking me.

The dreamscape dissolved and I woke up to strong arms around me and Luc's worried eyes. I took a deep breath and told him in a few sentences what had happened.

"It was a dream, but Marcus was there and someone called… Sikes, I think? They attacked me, but when Marcus grabbed me it burned- he knew I was imprinted. I called for you and he said he'd be back, before I…" I stopped as I saw that on my wrist, where Marcus had grabbed me, was a blackened mark, in the shape of his handprint. It didn't hurt, just made me want to throw up that his skin had left a mark on me.

"He… he burned me," I said, incredulously. And then I finally started crying. I sobbed into his chest as his arms tightened around me protectively. His hand stroked my hair and I rested my ear against his heart to hear our two heartbeats.

I had more I had to say, so I pulled back to admit it to him.

"I'm so sorry…" I told him, sniffing.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" he asked gently, leaning over and handing me a tissue.

"I… I _told_ Marcus it was you, that I imprinted with you, when I heard you, I called out your name by accident and he heard, and now he's going to come after you, and it's all my fault for shouting out and I'm just so stupid for making it your problem and.." he cut off my increasingly agitated tirade by pulling me back into his arms and holding me tightly for my second round of sobbing. I had always thought I was a bit of a 'tough cookie' as the Americans might say, but I certainly wasn't right now- I was being a wet blanket.

This time, it was Luc who pulled back to look seriously into my watering eyes.

"Stop," he told me firmly, "blaming yourself. Marcus would have guessed anyway, but he was my problem, mine, the moment he became your problem. End of." He had a hard look in his eyes and I knew he would go to any lengths to protect me.

He told me about echolings, how any attacks they made in the dream would appear in real life as well. He explained that if any Ace touched me with bad intent, they would be burned, as if my skin was saying 'hands off!' to them. Unfortunately, it would such some of my strength and leave the black mark until we either 'ascended' or Caleb's grandmother came for Reunification, because her ability was healing supernatural wounds. That was cool. He phoned Caleb and Maggie and they appeared soon after, luckily having just finished the shopping when they heard. They were fussing over me like mother hens. Not cool. I knew Luc wanted to fuss over me like the other two, but he also knew I hated being fussed over. Every time he did anything, or didn't do anything, it just made me feel all the more lucky that I was his and he was mine. I vaguely heard Maggie tell Luc that his Gran would be there tomorrow to heal me, because I was still buried in his chest, listening to our heartbeats to calm me down. Maggie saw my slightly irritated swirling thoughts and pulled Caleb from the room, coming back a few minutes later with a hot chocolate for me, which made me a lot less irritated at her. The way to my heart was chocolate.

_I'll remember chocolate for if you ever get angry,_ his teasing voice reached my head. I gaped at him. "I heard you!" I exclaimed.

_Well of course, it's chocolate right?_

"Wait, let me try!" I didn't even realise that Maggie and Caleb had left the room.

_Hellooo? Testing, testing, Houston do you copy?_

_This is ground control to major Tom_ I heard, and that was it. I started to sing the rest of Space Oddity (one of my all-time favourite songs) very loudly and _very _enthusiastically. He laughed at me and told me the words when I forgot them. From there, I found out we had really similar music interests- the era of David Bowie, Queen and The Rolling stones. I was a music snob, only liking certain modern music, like Coldplay, indie bands like Mumford and Sons, Bastille and Avicii. He told me some French bands that he assured me were nothing like what he disdainfully called 'French pop'. I leant back against his chest and sang quietly:

"For here am I sitting in a tin can

Far above the world

Planet Earth is blue

And there's nothing I can do"

Realising that I was really quite hungry after my hot chocolate, which he had stolen sips of (and got told off for), we made our way to the kitchen, where Maggie and Caleb had made dinner for us. I promised to teach her how to make some awesome traditional English dishes like Yorkshire puddings (not puddings at all), toad-in-the-hole, steak and kidney pie and apple crumble (actually a pudding). She, in return, would teach me to make honey buns, which were really growing on me.

But I could tell she was still really worried, because Caleb had his hand touching her almost every moment of the meal. It was because now we had another person who was supposed to be dead, and, even more worrying, was supposed to be human, but here Sikes Watson was, attacking me in echolings, perfectly alive.

Caleb and Maggie left to go to bed, but I stayed, talking, but more often not, with Luc. It was amazing how little we needed to say. And yet, we still had a thousand conversations in the silence, a small secret smile, a glance, a look. It made my heart feel tight and whenever my eyes met Luc's, I saw his deep concern for me. I wondered how I had ever thought that it was just the imprint making him feel for me when he didn't want to. And it certainly wasn't forcing me either. He cleared his throat- I could tell he was about to say something he knew might upset me.

"Anna, there is a way to stop the echoling attacks. It's… well, my touch."

I thought I knew what he was about to say but I made him say it anyway.

"What? I mean, how?"

"Our touch heals and connects us. If we… touch whilst you're sleeping, Marcus and Sikes cannot attack you. Which means…"

"…we need to sleep together." I finished, then blushed and quickly amended my statement. "I mean, we need to sleep… in the same bed. I mean, sleep whilst, um, having skin contact. No, it just sounds worse each time, doesn't it?" I was a little flustered. He smiled and nodded.

"I know what you mean. Yes, we need to sleep with each other. I don't want to have to force you, but if it keeps you safe, then…"

"Don't worry about it," I interrupted him. "I understand. But I do need to go and get my stuff from my house."

"I'll come with you," he replied.

Once I'd collected my things and we were back in his room, I finally acknowledged my apprehension. I had chosen long pyjama bottoms with a strappy top, but I felt very self-conscious. He came out in pyjama trousers and a white t-shirt and, taking my turn in the bathroom, my stomach clenched with nerves. I swallowed when I came out of the bathroom to see him sitting in bed, leaning over the bedside table to set his phone for the next morning. Avoiding looking at him, I slid in the other side of the comfy double bed, which he had told me he normally shared with his cousin. He lay down beside me and we looked into each other's eyes for a while.

Without thinking, I reached out and traced his jaw line with my fingertips, and rested my hand lightly on his cheek. He reached up his own hand and took my fingertips, kissing them lightly before resting my hand against his heart, his hand on top of mine.

"Goodnight." He whispered.

"Goodnight," I whispered back.

**The plot thickens! This is definitely one of my favourite chapters so far! **

**Btw, check out my Divergent fanfic and please review!**

**See you next time! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone. Sorry about the delay, got a bit of writer's block. I probably won't update the next chapter until Saturday at least, coz of various reasons (like my piano exam :S)**

**Chapter 6**

I woke up wrapped in the arms of my Significant, feeling just like I had the day before- really well rested. My hand was still on his chest, entwined with his. His other arm was around me, his hand resting on my waist, and one finger was on the bare skin between my top and pyjama bottoms. My back was facing the door, so I couldn't see who opened the door, but I vaguely heard their hushed voices. At the sound, Luc stirred, muttering something unintelligible in French. His hand moved from my waist to the small of my back and he pulled me closer, sighing. I tried to calm my heart so it wouldn't wake him up and kept perfectly still.

After a few minutes, the door shut again and I relaxed slightly. Luc's eyes snapped open and he sat up, and I realised that he had been awake the whole time. I sat up too, raising one eyebrow at him, and his smile admitted his guilt. I shook my head at him mockingly, but he just smiled. I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to kiss him. I immediately blushed crimson when I realised he had heard it and started to apologise, but he put a finger over my lips to shut me up and looked deep into my blue eyes with his hazel ones.

"Hey. I said I'd wait for you remember? You're setting the pace. You don't have to be embarrassed."

"I know I… it just felt weird to be, well, practically asking without meaning to…" I trailed off. "I don't…" I took a deep breath. I made sure to block my mind off before I reflected that I basically was about to ask him to kiss me. I opened my mouth and then shut it. Instead, I opened my mind to his and spoke.

_I don't think you need to wait for me now_, I told him. He smiled at me. He leaned closer to me and a thrill went through my chest at the fact that he was about to kiss me. I closed my eyes and his lips almost brushed mine when the door opened again quietly and we jumped apart.

"Oh my… I'm so sorry, I didn't mean… I mean I wasn't…" Maggie blushed as she tried to back out and shut the door.

"Don't worry about it," I called to her. "Come in. Did you want us?" I figured the moment was broken anyway.

"Later," Luc breathed into my ear, making me shiver and get girly jumps in my chest. We moved slightly apart as Maggie advanced cautiously into the room.

"Winifred wanted to get you up as soon as she arrived, but I told her to wait. I thought you were both still asleep, but I was just checking on Winifred's insistence that she be notified the moment you woke up…" she trailed off, smiling as she realised we were both amused.

"Alright, go get, um, ready, and we'll be meeting in the kitchen. Thanks for letting her stay," she added to Luc, who smiled and nodded. I wondered when he'd sorted this out. Probably when I was buried in his chest and they were fussing.

She left, shutting the door behind her, and I started to get out of bed, but Luc stopped me with a hand on my arm. My gaze moved to his eyes and I admired the combination of brown with green rings, autumn colours.

"Anna," he told me, snapping me out of the eye-awe. My name on his lips sounded so right, and very sexy.

"Anna," he said again, and, once again I blushed. I reminded myself not to put any blusher on this morning, not that I normally did anyway.

"Anna!" He rolled his eyes. I was very distracted this morning. He moved his head a little closer.

"You really mean it? That I don't need to wait for you?"

"Yes." I told him firmly. "I don't _want_ you to wait for me. Because, I don't want to be the one that starts the first kiss, you know?" I added, killing the serious atmosphere. He smiled and shook his head at me and we went to get ready.

When we appeared downstairs, I saw Caleb's Winifred, sitting at the table, tucking into pancakes and chuckling.

"I left some mixture for you so you could make fancy pancakes," Caleb told Luc, who rolled his eyes and moved to grab a frying pan.

"_Proper_ pancakes, better known as crêpes!" he told him.

"There are some left if you want good pancakes, and there's enough mixture for fancy food if you want." Caleb told me. I exchanged a glance with Luc. "_Crêpes, _Caleb_"_ I told him. He rolled his eyes.

"Another fancy-pants," he mock-sighed.

"Hey! I appreciate MacDonald's as much as the next person, but if the choice is between that and a Michelin star restaurant, which are you gonna choose?" I reasoned. Caleb's Winifred laughed.

"I like her," she told Caleb, laughing. "And you can call me Winifred."

"Hi. I'm Anna," I told her.

"So, let's have a look at this here mark," she told me. As Luc busied himself with _proper_ pancakes, I sat at the table. She took my arm and examined the blackened-looking handprint that encircled my arm. She then leaned my head forward to look at the one hidden by my hair- it seemed she had been told where I had been grabbed. She sighed.

"I'm sorry Anna."

"You can't get rid of them?" I asked, worried.

"No, no! I can fix them, but since they were both with very malicious intent, you will have to relive the moment. And it's gonna hurt. So, I suggest you have a little breakfast before we get this done."

She drank coffee whilst Luc and I ate the most _divine_ pancakes I had ever tasted. It turned out he was an awesome cook- at least, where crêpes were concerned. Then, Winifred ushered us to the sitting room, where she ordered me to lie down.

"Alright, you're gonna need some help, I'm afraid." She told me. She gestured to Luc, who got down beside me. He looked askance at me and then, when I nodded, he took both my hands in his and stared into my eyes. Lining up her fingers perfectly with the mark, I saw Winifred's eyes swirl bright green and then the dream played in reverse. I saw Marcus' enraged expression and felt his hand connect with my arm. I felt the burn of the offence mark, but also the hate that Marcus felt, his loathing for me and humans in general, despite the fact that he was a human himself. I shivered involuntarily and gasped.

Winifred removed her hands and I saw that the mark around my wrist was gone.

"Wow," I breathed, examining my wrist, but there was no visible sign of the blackened mark that had been there just a few seconds ago.

"Now for the head." Winifred moved round to positions herself behind my head and pushed my hair this way and that to find the marks hidden by my hair.

"Why does it matter? You can't see the ones on my head," I told Winifred.

"Offence marks do more than just mark your skin- they make you more tired until they're removed. So, until we get this one off, you'll be more tired." She told me, placing her hands on my head. Luc got a more secure grip on my hands and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Okay," I told her. I felt his hand dig into my scalp and his malevolence, as well as the pain of the offence mark. I watched Marcus shake me, his triumphant grin fade and his hand finally leave my hair. I came to, realising that I had thrashed around and that Luc had dived on top of me to pin me down. I apologised to Luc, but he waved me off, telling me that it was fine.

I went upstairs and checked my phone for the first time in I couldn't even remember how long. I had a few missed calls from Lillian and a really long text. It read:

**Anna, I am so sorry about last week, I know you're really angry at me and I definitely deserve it. The truth is, I have no good excuse. I fell asleep and my phone was in the kitchen. I woke up and completely forgot until the next day. I feel so bad and I'm so sorry, I hope you can forgive me sometime, if not now. I'll stop bothering you now.**

I had completely forgotten about her blowing me off at the cinema. She had booked the tickets, which was why I didn't just go and watch the film without her. But I wasn't angry at her at all, miffed, if that. I knew she would have a reason. I realised that she probably thought I hated her because I hadn't texted back or anything. I quickly texted her.

**Hey, shut your face! Of course I'm not mad at you! Idiot! ;) I'm sorry for making you think that I was but I only saw all this today coz I had really bad flu (in summer, I know!) :( and I'm only just recovered, so saw it today. Dw about last week, seriously. I know you're still gonna worry. STOP (I used capitols so you have to believe me :P ) anyways, we should meet up. When r u free? Xxx**

I hated to lie to her but I had to make up an excuse for being ill. It wasn't like I could tell her 'ooh, by the way Lill, I found my soul mate, but I didn't believe him and it hurt to be without him, so I got ill'. It sounded ridiculous even in my head. Her reply was the quickest she had ever given.

**Are you sure? Coz I know what I did was horrible and I'm a terrible friend… :( x**

I rolled my eyes. Lillian worried about everything. And I mean _everything_. She was incredible at music- she had met and played for the Queen, for goodness sake- but she thought that she had failed her music exam (it had turned out that she got almost full marks)

**No. I hate you. Go away. Of course I'm sure, silly! :) Why would I just put all that if I hadn't forgiven u? You're an awesome friend, shut up… :P We need to meet up I haven't seen u in ages! Xxx**

I hoped that the sarcasm would make her really believe I had forgiven her.

**Oh phew! Thanks, but I'm really not. You free today? Xxx**

Luc, who had been reading over my shoulder, smiled.

"If you want to go see her, it's fine. Marcus won't try anything if you're at hers. He won't know where you are," he told me.

I made plans with Lillian and spent the rest of the morning with Luc, getting to know him better. Something kept bugging me. I wasn't sure what, but I was sure that something from his past that he didn't want me to know, for some reason. I was curious, but respected his privacy. If we were going to be in each other's heads for the rest of our lives, I would probably find out eventually, but I had no intention of prying until he wanted to tell me. So I kept my mouth shut and my mind guarded about it. But I got the distinct feeling he was hiding something from me.

**Ooh. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter- I really wanted them to kiss, but Maggie wouldn't let me. Lillian is exactly like my best friend, and the texting is how I'd imagine her to react. And the cliffhangar. I'm so cruel ;) See you next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello all! ****I am so sorry for not updating in so long, i got a huge case of writer's block... and i went on holiday before i got past the block to finish the chapter. I'm going away again in a few days, so I'll have to see how much inspiration I get as to whether you get another chapter before then. If not, I won't be updating for the next few weeks (probably two). Really sorry about that :(**

**I have made a minor adjustment to the previous chapter- it's weird that Gran wants to be called Gran by non-family so she's called Winifred (her real name- it took me ages to find it out!) **

**I also have a proposition for you, see the end of the chapter...**

**P.S. Sorry about the long into. Because of before-mentioned block, this chapter is less than satisfactory and I will probably go back and edit it when I'm in a more writey-ey mood- I need to get past this chapter and carry on with the story rather than getting bogged down and spending even longer on this one. Also, not action-heavy, lots of emotional stuff though, and a nice bit I'm sure you've been waiting for at the end...**

**Chapter 7**

After an awesome afternoon and evening spent with Lillian, catching up and eating pizza, I returned late, my body aching a little from withdrawals. When I saw him, my feet sped up, without my permission, and I walked swiftly towards Luc, who gently took my hand in his own. I gave a sigh of relief at the disappearance of my withdrawals and the absence of the ache that I never wanted to feel again, after having experienced it for a week straight.

We went straight to his room, but, instead of crashing, we stayed up talking.

"So, when I was attacked, why were you chasing Marcus in the first place?" I asked him, frowning.

"Well, part of the reason Maggie and Caleb came to England early was that they had heard reports that Marcus was around. My uncle, Philippe, is a council member and offered for Maggie and Caleb to stay here, because he knows it would drive them mad to have to stay at the palace, and…"

"Palace?" I interrupted.

"Yes, that's where the Reunification happens," he told me. "Well, I offered to come and stay with them to improve my English and to have a break from… home.

"We went bowling, and Maggie just saw Marcus. I guess he found out where the Visionary was staying and that's why he was there. We were chasing him and he was running away, then he grabbed you. He knew we'd do anything to protect a human."

I frowned, thinking. Why would Marcus and Sikes, whoever that was, attack _me_ in an echoling, not Maggie or Caleb or even Luc?

"Because he's afraid of Maggie and, by default, Caleb because he's her Significant." Luc replied to my inner musings. "I guess he's wary of all Aces since he's not supposed to be one any more, so he went for you, the human, instead of me." I nodded. That made sense.

My phone buzzed and I picked it up to see a text from mum, asking how things were. I rested my head on Luc's shoulder as we sat on the bed and I texted back, telling her everything was fine. I felt a slight tug and saw Luc playing with a strand of my hair. I raised an eyebrow and tousled his dark hair back. Smiling at me, he dived at me and tickled me in the only place I was ticklish, my side. How did he even know that? I laughed and tried tickling him back. Turned out, he was much more ticklish than me and he yelped loudly before attacking me again. I launched a counter-attack, but stopped suddenly. My chest gave a jolt and my mind flickered in recognition. I had seen this before- it was one of the visions I had had when I touched Luc, in the rain. I looked at Luc in amazement and he raised his eyebrows, seeing in my mind what I had realised. Tentatively, I touched his mind and saw that he had seen different visions to me that day.

"The imprint only shows you what you can handle. Mine are… a bit further down the line." He told me softly.

The familiar rebellious streak rose in me, telling me that I shouldn't be forced into the future with Luc, but I pushed it down with reason. I _had_ chosen- I chose Luc. If there was a future that was set, anything I did to try and avoid it would still lead to the same conclusion, so I would act as if the future didn't exist. I could still make my own decisions. And who knows, the future could change. But I wasn't sure I wanted it to, at this point. Luc watched my inner turmoil without comment, but had a concerned expression on his face. It was the best thing he could have done. Luc seemed to be perfect, always knowing what to do when I… didn't.

"No." Luc spoke firmly. "I am not perfect. Not even nearly. I… know that you saw there was something I was keeping from you- something about my past. I didn't want to… put you off, or make you scared of me, especially since we've only properly known each two days." He sighed. "I guess I shouldn't have kept it from you."

"No!" I interrupted again. "Just because we're in each other's heads it doesn't mean that we have to tell each other every single private thought and fear straight away. You tell me when _you_ want to- or not at all if you want. I respect your privacy- well, as much as I can when I'm kind of in your head a lot," I amended.

"I'm not going to tell you you're perfect," he told me seriously, "because no-one is. Everyone has flaws. But I will tell you this- you are right for me. You always know what to say to me, what to do with me, and you make me the best person I can be." Hey, wasn't that my line? "And that was very, very cheesy. I know you don't like cheese, except on pizza, so I'm going to stop with the emotional crap." His accent got stronger as he spoke the last words and I knew he was upset. He thought he had annoyed me. Why would he think that?

"I will tell you what I was hiding, and before you say anything," he anticipated my interruption and held a hand up, "you're not forcing me. I want to tell you." I said nothing, just watched him for a sign that he was lying or reluctant to tell me. He wasn't lying- he really did want to tell me.

"Okay," I told him.

"I have always had… a difficult relationship with my family- my wider family included. There have been 4 years of my life that I haven't told you about. When I was twelve, I became…" He winced and changed the sentence.

"I thought my family was crazy, I thought they were part of some crazy cult; they were extreme and kind of… full on. I wanted out- out of their expectations, their hope that I would imprint and help the clan through the loss of imprints. It was a mixture of annoyance at them in general, but also of their attitude, that it would be the younger ones that would sort out the mess that they had created. At least, that was the way I thought of it. And there was my grandfather. He wasn't the Champion- the leader- of our Clan, but he might as well have been. He controlled everyone. He was… not a nice man. He thought that since we had abilities and imprints, we were better than all the rest of mankind and should be the 'dominant species', although he never put it like that. He always hated the way I was different from everyone else in the Clan, and tried to teach me, to… how do you say it… take me 'under his wing'. His ability helped him- he manipulated people's emotions. But he never could control me, and I suffered for it, _grandpère _manipulating my family into believing what he was doing was good. You do not want to know what happened 'under his wing'…

"Since I couldn't expose _grandpère _as everyone believed him to be a saint, I vented my anger in another way. I got in with some bad people… did some things I am not proud of. After two years, I left. I ran away for two years… I was so angry then. There were only three things I never did, where I never crossed the line: one, I never drank- Aces can't drink, or we get really ill. Two, I never slept around. I may have had a lot of anger, but I wasn't that kind of guy. And three, I never did drugs. Again, I wasn't completely out of my mind. When I came back, my grandfather had died. My family never pried into what happened for the two years I ran away, but they accepted me and forgave me for running, when I should have been trying to stay, to help fight against the terrible things that were happening…"

There, he choked up, and couldn't carry on. Lost for words, I swallowed. What could I say to his confession of abuse and rebellion? He held his head in his hands, his fingers gripping his thick hair, elbows resting on his thighs. I had no words, so I moved closer and gripped his shoulders, not exactly hugging, but showing my support. I hoped he knew what I was trying to say. He spoke again, his head still in his hands, hair obscuring his eyes.

"When I came back, two years ago, my family were finally throwing off the shackles that _grandpère _had bound them with. Ever since, I have been trying to repay their kindness and forgiveness- by forgiving them for all those years under _grandpère_, where they never spoke against him, but I fail time and time again. I had too much anger. I _have_ too much anger and frustration and I cannot be patient with my family… my people. They still put too much expectation on me, on all of us- the younger generation. I find it so hard to forgive them and I know that I should- after all, they are my family…

"So now you know who I _really_ am. And I know that you probably hate me right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if you did, after all, I hate myself, but I couldn't keep it secret. No mask will hide the holes _grandpère_ left in me, especially if the one I am trying to hide from is in my head…" I cut short his outburst with a hard thought.

_Stop._

His mouth closed, but his mask remained off, his broken insides revealed to me for the first time. Yes, he had seemed quiet and brooding before I knew him, but until he started telling me about his life, I hadn't noticed anything 'broken' about him. Well, maybe that wasn't exactly true… sure we had talked a lot, but I guess I had noticed he was hiding something about his character, somewhere in my subconscious. I had to sort my mind out, away from Luc. I got up and walked away from the bed. His words followed me out the door.

_Remember what I told you before. It hasn't, and won't, change._

I walked quickly, increasing my pace until I was running through the huge house, not realising I was in my PJs, until I reached the garden, where the clear sky and moonless night showed me countless hundreds of stars. The sights calmed me, as it had every time I got annoyed. Whatever I did, whatever anyone did, the stars kept shining. I tried to think about Luc rationally, ignoring my body's protests at me leaving him upset. How could we have a relationship that started with lies? He had shown me a mask. We had barely known each other two days and I was already sleeping in the same bed as him. My thoughts whirled, and I took a deep breath, forcing everything away but the sight of the stars, calmly twinkling above.

Why had I run? He had taken down his defences and shown me the real him, and I had run away. No-one was perfect. He'd had to keep his disguise on for so many years that it took him a while to trust anyone enough to remove it. He barely knew me, but he trusted me enough to take it off. And I had run away. Not because I hated who he had shown himself to be- quite the opposite. It was simply because he hadn't trusted me before. It seemed stupid to me now, selfish. I was selfish. I ran inside, the stars forgotten.

I saw in his mind that Luc was in the same position, head in hands. I remembered his last words- remember what I told you before- and realised what he had meant. He meant what he had said right at the beginning. _I will wait._ I burst into the room, out of breath from my run, but managed to gasp the words out.

"Luc!" My mind was blank. "I… I'm sorry. No-one's perfect, not you, not me. I know that. Just because we're soulmates, doesn't mean we don't have to work at a relationship. Wait, that wasn't what I needed to say first…" I was getting this all wrong. This was why I wasn't good at speaking, more doing. Luc looked up and I saw, even from the middle of the room, the pain in his eyes. How had I not seen it before? Oh right, the mask. I shook my head to clear it.

"What I meant to say is that I'm sorry for running. I saw behind the masquerade and the real you… it's not terrible. Everyone finds it difficult to forgive; it doesn't make you a bad person that you find it hard too."

I moved towards the bed and sat on the edge, not too close to Luc.

"I see the person behind the mask, and he's certainly not the monster or the broken wreck he thinks he is." I raised my hand and rested it against his jaw and cheek, moving my face closer. Staring into his eyes, I whispered my final words.

"In fact, the man behind the mask just happens to be…" I closed my eyes, "beautiful."

My eyes squeezed shut more tightly when I felt his fingers curl around the back of my neck, weaving into my hair. He rested his forehead against mine. His breath washed over me as he whispered back.

"Thank you…" I cut him off.

_You don't have to thank me._

_I know. But I want to._

The small distance between us disappeared, and, cautiously, Luc brought his lips close to mine, hesitating when they were an inch away.

_What are you waiting for?_

_You're sure? I mean, you really aren't repulsed by…_

_Shut up and kiss me Luc._

And his lips brushed mine. I hadn't kissed many guys before, maybe one or two- I never really dated- but this was nothing like any I had received before. The light brush of our lips sent a mental shiver right down my spine and my body trembled with nerves. My body and my mind screamed at me to get closer to Luc, to kiss him. I didn't ignore it. My mouth pressed against his with a little more force than he had and he responded by bringing me even closer to him and pulling my lips into a proper kiss, like I wanted. _Me,_ not just my body. His other hand, which reached out to brush my cheek, trembled as much as mine on his face. His lips moved over mine, warm and gentle. After a few seconds, we broke apart. Without exchanging a word, or a thought, for that matter, we lay down, entwined in each other's still shaking arms.

**Okay, so here is my proposition/dilemma. So obviously, Luc is French and when we meet the family, there will be French spoken. Since I study it, I would like to put the actual French and the the English in brackets or something afterwards, except for long passages, which I will put in the writing like 'so-and-so spoke in French-' then I will just put it in English. If you think that would make the dialogue too broken up, or have any other suggestions, I'm all ears. Otherwise, I'll go ahead with the dual languages. And, in advance, I'm sorry to any native French speakers who read it and it's wrong! I'm happy to be corrected...**

**See you next time! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone, I just wanted to say thank you for being honest with me, I did need a kick up the backside about updating! I am now scheduling myself strictly and will try my very hardest to update biweekly (i.e. once a fortnight, not twice a week, sorry) or, if I'm feeling nice, more often. But expect, from now on, every other Monday or Saturday being my update days. Thanks for all your support! As ze French say, allons-y! (Let's go!)**

**Chapter 8**

"So, I was thinking…" Luc began over morning pancakes, sorry, crêpes.

"Mmmh?" I made a noise to show I was listening whilst shovelling food into my mouth.

"Would you like to meet my family?" He asked tentatively. "I know you've heard a lot of bad things about them but they have really turned over a new leaf and would love to meet you I'm sure…" I cut him off with a look.

"Of course I'll meet your family. When will we go?"

"Is tomorrow too soon?"

"No, that's fine, I guess we need to arrange tickets and stuff though," I replied, not even surprised it was so soon.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered."

"What? No, I can't let you…" I balked at the thought of how expensive last-minute tickets on the Eurostar would be.

"Come on Anna, it can be your birthday treat- a trip to Paris with a local tour guide, free of charge!"

I gave him a bland look. "My birthday isn't for eight months."

"I know, it's to make up for last one. A very late birthday present?" He gave me a hopeful smile. He sighed. "Anna, if I can't buy a train ticket for you, what can I do?"

I threw my hands up in the air in surrender. "Fine, but I'm buying you several dinner dates!" I pointed at him threateningly. He raised his eyebrows questioningly and smirked.

"Does that mean you want to go on a date with me Anna?" My cheeks flushed, but I squared my shoulders and told myself to stop being embarrassed. We had kissed now and I was meeting his family tomorrow- I think that meant that I wanted to go on a date.

"Maybe," I replied coyly, willing the red from my cheeks.

My phone buzzed, alerting me to a text. It was from my Dad. Crap. Feeling my heart pick up slightly in panic, Luc looked up with a concerned expression, which turned slightly worried when he realised what it was. He read the text over my shoulder.

**Got in last night. Where were you? Will you be in later or will I have to fend for myself for dinner?**

I decided to tell him a half-truth.

**Was at Maggie's house. I will be in, but I've got plans to go away tomorrow for a few days, maybe more. That ok?**

I had to work out what I would do about sleeping with Luc in my own house tonight, but hopefully we'd be able to get past Dad. I couldn't believe a guy was going to sneak into (or I would sneak out of) my house so that we could sleep in the same bed. It was something I'd never dreamed I would do in real life- this sort of stuff only happened in three places- films, books, and my dreams. My Dad's reply cut off my inner ramblings.

**Who's Maggie? That's fine, where are you off to? I'm still at work; will you be back when I get back?**

Dad seemed clueless at the moment, but I would have to lie to him some more to keep the secret safe. He may be an awesome Dad generally, but he was strict when it came to boys when he was away. He would certainly disapprove of a guy I had only just met and would freak out if he knew the true nature of our relationship. Heck, anyone would freak out- I certainly did.

**A friend from round the corner- she's American, staying a few weeks here. Paris- to visit sights etc. Yes Dad, your personal slave will have dinner on the table for you…**

Reading over my shoulder, Luc laughed at my sarcastic message.

"I'll help you make dinner for you and then I'll run when he arrives?" He suggested.

"You want to make dinner for my Dad?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Well, I was thinking more I cook dinner for us and you can say you ate earlier and he can have the leftovers from our meal? Then that will be one of your dinner dates you owe me," he pointed out. "Besides, I'm French. I love cooking!" I rolled my eyes at his logic and shrugged.

"Is that you asking me on a date in a roundabout way?" I asked. Maybe it was a strange first date, but then our whole relationship so far had been a little… different.

"Yes. Is that you saying yes in a roundabout way?"

"It is." And with that, barely any more words were spoken.

Plans were made and tickets were bought as I made myself more and more nervous about meeting the family and keeping up the deception to my Dad, before Luc would come and take my hand. He looked into my eyes and said, with a serious face, "My family will love you. Your father will not be a problem. There's no need to be nervous." And then, I would be calmed, ready for the cycle of working myself up to begin again. That was how my morning and afternoon went. By evening, Luc was hardly letting go of my hand and I felt so stupid for needing his comfort, but he assured me over and over that that was what he wanted, needed to do- help me. That was what partners did, after all.

We were eating the amazing dinner that we, well, mainly Luc, had made, and I was talking quite fast.

"Okay, I don't mean to be stereotypical, but the French sure can cook!" I gushed (yes, gushed). Ew. What did I do that for?

"I'll take the fact you are disgusted at yourself for 'gushing' as a complement," Luc smiled, his eyes twinkling. In this light, the green stood out more than the rest of the colours that were contained in his warm hazel eyes. That was the beauty of that colour- they were brown, green and endless mixes of the two, which made them very interesting to stare at, which I was currently doing. Oops. Luc smiled too, but he seemed just as lost in my eyes as I was in his, despite mine being not nearly as interesting as his.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a car in the drive, and we both froze.

"Dad's back early," I realised, turning to Luc with panicked eyes.

"Quick, help me clear my plate," he hissed as the lights of Dad's car disappeared into the garage. I dumped his plate and all other signs of 'company' into his arms.

"Go to my room, he'll see you if you go out!" I whispered as I heard the front door slam and my Dad give his familiar "We're home!"

Luc had barely left the room when Dad came in. I quickly tried to smooth my face into a not panicked expression, but Dad still looked weirdly at me. Oh crap.

"You couldn't wait?" he asked, nodding to my half-empty plate. I relaxed. Thank goodness he hadn't noticed my agitation. I tried to reply in a normal voice.

"Yeah, I was really hungry and, well, not to big up my cooking skills or anything, but it was too good to wait," I grinned, trying to diffuse any leftover anxiety with my joke. Dad harrumphed.

"Don't get too cocky about your cooking skills, young la… ooh that does smell good," he interrupted himself when he smelled the coq-au-vin that had been prepared by "me". I could always distract Dad with food.

When I had finally got rid of Dad, who had gone to bed, I breathed a silent sigh of relief- I had been on edge all evening, hoping nothing would make him suspicious. Obviously, me being on edge would make him suspicious but I was counting on his inattentive nature to not notice that. It seemed I had succeeded. But now I had to deal with Luc who was, at this very moment, hiding in my room. But when I found him, lying on my bed on his back, reading one of my awesome books, I kind of forgot that he was hiding and burst into laughter at his face. He was reading the very hungry caterpillar, a keepsake which I just couldn't throw away from my childhood. Of all the books he could've picked up… but I was kinda enjoying watching him read a kids book; it was cute.

"The French version is way better," he informed me with a perfectly straight face. That brought round another round of giggling which I was sure would wake Dad up, and I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop the laugh, listening anxiously, but luckily dad was an extremely heavy sleeper so I heard nothing. Mentally scolding myself for forgetting to be quiet, I sat on the bed next to him, wondering whether we would go to his or mine, since sleeping apart was not an option. It would be much easier to sleep apart and stop the need for sneaking but I didn't really want to see Marcus again.

It seemed Luc was prepared as he had brought night stuff with him in case he ended up at mine instead of at his. Further, there would be no trouble from Dad in the morning as he is the world's oldest teenager. I mean, I'm not exactly a morning person, but he always, and I mean ALWAYS, gets up later than me. So I was feeling relatively safe from discovery as, once again, I fell asleep in my Significant's arms.

* * *

"Are you ready for this?" Luc asked me quietly, over the sound of the train. We were sitting, not touching in two seats on the Eurostar, bound for Paris. The way he pronounced the word 'family' was endearing, how he extended the 'ee' sound at the end, but I recognised it as nervousness. Discreetly, although there weren't that many people in our carriage, I brushed my fingers over his hand to calm him down. He sighed and smiled at me wordlessly, but that was his thanks. Like I said, I wasn't particularly talkative and neither was he. And it seemed he dealt with nervousness in much the same way as I did- by being quiet.

_Are_ _you?_

I replied silently, knowing he was a lot less comfortable than me at seeing his extended family. He merely nodded, but I knew he was lying. So I took his hand firmly in mine and resolved to let it go. It wasn't like he had no right to be nervous. The fact that we were the first imprinted couple in the Renou clan meant that Luc's whole family would be there- the first time that had happened in a long time. And they would all be focussing on _us._ Now I was nervous, sure anyone would be when they meet their boyfriend's family in its entirety, not to mention they were all French. I thanked my lucky stars again that I had chosen that language to do a degree in.

Woah, hang on a second. I just called him my boyfriend.

_Anna, I realise I've done this all in the wrong order, what with you meeting the family before we're even going out officially and we haven't even been on a proper date yet, but I suppose our relationship isn't exactly the most conventional..._

It seemed that he rambled when he was nervous- I guessed he alternated between that and silence. I waited with bated breath.

_Do you want to be my girlfriend?_

Still the gentleman- he was giving me a choice. But it was no decision for me. Not because the decision had been taken away from me, but because it was a no-brainer. Of course I would be his girlfriend. I just nodded.

He held my hand tightly in his all the rest of the journey to Paris, where we hired a car to drive to Luc's family home. I gathered from his mind that he had refused to allow his family to meet us at the station, partially for my benefit, but also for his- he had to have some freedom from his family.

I was amazed at the houses that we were passing- this was definitely the wealthy district of Paris. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, considering the size of Luc's uncle's house, but I was still staring wide-eyed at the gates alone, which had the clan tattoo incorporated in the intricate designs.

We pulled up outside the house and Luc stopped the engine. I felt vaguely dizzy from nerves and I saw he looked paler than normal. Wordlessly and simultaneously, we reached for the other and our hands clasped together. Our mutual need for comfort was satisfied as our skin met and I was very glad I had my own stress ball which worked very well. He brushed a few stray strands of hair from my face.

_My family will love you._

I was nervous at meeting them, sure, but what I was more nervous about was keeping Luc happy. He had been hurt beyond what I could imagine and I needed to comfort him and to shelter him from any kind of harm, even unintentionally from his own family. And it had nothing to do with the imprint telling me to take care of him. Seeing my thoughts, Luc looked at me with wonder and amazement in his eyes.

"How did I deserve you?" He murmured, shaking his head. What was he talking about?! I was the one who didn't deserve him! I leaned forward so that our faces were centimetres apart and gave a small smile.

"Snap." I whispered. He started to close the small distance between us, but before our lips met, his eyes flickered over my shoulder and he pulled back with an exasperated expression. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a lot of people looking out of the window and the front door was open with even more standing on the porch. I felt my cheeks redden at the audience- I'd rather not have Luc's whole family witness our private moment, and Luc had obviously sensed that.

I took a few deep breaths, willing the blush to go away, before reluctantly letting go of Luc's hands, grabbing my shoulder bag and getting out of the car. Here we go.

**Please keep commenting, it really gives me motivation to write more and thanjs for all the support.**

**I hate to do self-promotion but please, if you're a fan of Divergent, check out my fic, called Opposed, and comment (it's feeling a little lonely!).**

**Until next time! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**I realise the last chapter was major filler so I've decided (at 1 in the morning ****and it's over 4000 words**** you should feel very loved!) to give you the next chapter now. Consider this chapter 8 part 2 and sorry, it's 1 in the morning so there might be some mistakes.**

**Okay, so I've got a pronunciation guide for some of the names coz they're French:**

**Marie- marry**

**Jerome- jeh (soft j)-rom**

**Amélie- Am-eh-lee**

**Damien- da-me-en**

**Pascal- (okay this one's obvious)**

**Lucas- the s is not pronounced, it just ends with an 'a' sound**

**Chapter 9**

I hadn't known what to expect, so I had kind-of packed a lot in my suitcase. I decided to go help Luc out as it would likely be too heavy to do on his own and it was my fault for packing so many clothes. Before I could even get it out of the boot, someone grabbed it for me. Turning around, I saw a guy who looked to be the same age as Luc grinning at me. Winking, he lifted my heavy bag with ease _and_ grabbed Luc's much smaller one, before walking over the gravel drive and disappearing without a word. I had grabbed Luc's hand in mine again, knowing that we both needed the contact and tried not to wince at the 'clingy girlfriend' gesture, but before I could think better of it, Luc grasped my hand tightly. Finally, I turned to the house and the many people in front of me.

I had barely turned around when a pair of arms engulfed me and I was pressed against someone's chest. I inhaled the lemony scent of the wearer and made sure I didn't let go of Luc's hand. I assumed this was Luc's mother- what was her name again?

_Marie_

Luc's amused voice supplied, but when she released me and gave her son and even bigger hug, all amusement was gone from his face, although it kept its warmth. That woman had arms like iron and squeezed like a python, but an affectionate one, if that's even possible… Then she pulled back, hands still on his shoulders and beamed at him "LUCAS! Jet'aitellement manqué!" _(I missed you so much!)_ Woah. His full name was Lucas? How did I not know that? Come to think of it, I didn't even know his middle name. And he didn't know my full name.

I was distracted by Luc's mother's not so beaming face when she hit him lightly on the shoulder and began yelling in a tirade of French that I struggled to keep up with. Luckily, I had my French boyfriend to translate anything I didn't catch, although I got the gist of it anyway.

"J'ai été très inquiet pour toi! Pourquoi n'as-tu pas nous appeler? Oui, tu m'a envoyé des textos mais il pourrait tout aussi bien avoir été un meurtrier de masse nous dites que tu était «bien»! Et maintenant j'entends que les Watsons entent de vous attaquer etque ferais-je si… "

_(I've been so worried about you! Why didn't you call us? Okay, so you texted but it could just as easily have been a mass murderer telling us you were 'fine'! And now I hear that the Watsons are trying to attack you both and what would I do if…)_

Luc cut off her tirade sharply.

"_Maman__!_"

A man who I assumed was Luc's father stepped up and put his hands on his wife's shoulders.

"Marie, çasuffit." He told her quietly. Looking at them both, I saw that Luc got his looks from his parents. Whilst his mother was a little rounded, she was not overly so and was very pretty. His father was handsome, but in a less rugged and more refined way than Luc, and his hair was shorter. Luc had the same colour eyes and dark brown hair as his Mum but his tanned complexion and height from his Dad, whose hair was darker and greying very slightly at the temples.

_Now I see where you get your looks from_, I told Luc teasingly as the rest of the Renou clan began to spill out from the house. It seemed that his Dad was going to make up for his wife's madness and, after clapping his son on the shoulder, he turned to me with a smile.

"Welcome, Anna. I apologise for my wife's craziness, I assure you it is perfectly normal." I smiled in return as Marie put her hand over her heart in mock hurt. He held out a hand and I shook it, feeling my respect for him rise.

"You are welcome here Anna. My name is Jerome, and this is Marie, we don't want to hear any Mr or Mrs Renou since we're all called Renou and it would get a little confusing!" I noticed he had a much stronger accent than Luc, probably Luc was the best English speaker here and many would not be able to speak all that well, so I decided to help them out, whilst getting the opportunity to practice my own French. Because I hated crowds, and I was in the presence of a load of native-French speakers, I began hesitantly.

"Jerome… ça va- j'étudie la français alors… je pense que je peux suivre si vous… si vous ne voulez pas parler en anglais. " _(Jerome… it's okay- I'm studying French so… I think I can keep up if you… if you don't want to speak in English)_.

Jerome studied me intently for a moment with piercing eyes, before his face broke into a smile and exchanged a look with his wife that clearly said he was pleased.

"Cela signifie beaucoup pour nous, Anna. Merci." _(that means a lot to us Anna. Thank you.)_

Everyone seemed to take that as their cue to jump forward and begin talking excitedly and loudly in French at the same time. I gripped Luc's hand harder as everyone was trying to talk to us and I was struggling to maintain my composure. I was not one for a crowd. Luckily, Luc noticed this and told everyone to back off as we made our way inside and to the sitting room, where everyone began to crowd in and talk among themselves. It seemed that most of them hadn't been here very long because some people were greeting each other.

A girl pushed her way through the crowd towards us determinedly and Luc rolled his eyes. I gathered that she was Luc's sister, who looked to be about 15 or so.

"Salut."_ (hi)_ I told her. "Jesuis…" but she interrupted me, rolling her eyes.

"Je sais qui t'est- tout le monde sais qui _tu_ est. T'est_Anna_."_ (I know who you are- everyone knows who _you_ are. You're Anna)_

I wasn't sure what to make of her rudeness, I was a little amused actually, but Luc obviously thought otherwise.

"Amélie, t'excuseimmédiatement! C'étaitimpoli."_ (, apologise immediately! That was rude.)_ Rolling her eyes again, she smiled at me.

"Pardon Anna. Salut, je suis Amélie," sheintroducedherself.

Then, turning to her brother, she launched herself at him and gave him a big hug and started talking to him at a hundred miles an hour. Smiling, I saw that they had a typical sibling relationship, that is, they really cared for each other whilst hating each other's guts- in a perfectly loving way, of course. It made me wish I had siblings, but no such luck.

The guy who had taken our bags came up to us and gave Luc a man-hug- the one where the guys grab each other's forearms and slap each other on the back.

"Hé mec! Ça fait longtemps, non?" _(hey man! Long time no see, huh?)_

He looked to be around the same age as Luc, but was much more muscly and had much lighter skin, although nothing like my vampire pallor. Other than that, they could be brothers, with the same colour hair, although this guy's was much shorter. He turned to me with a smile.

"Et vous devez être la nénette de mon cousin," he grinned. I frowned. I got he was saying I must be something… but what was a nénette? Was he insulting me? I looked at my interpreter, who was trying and failing to hide a smile at my expense, and I mock-glared at him.

_What is he calling me?! _

I glared at his smirking face and raised my eyebrows. He finally lost it and burst out laughing. I was completely astonished. Yes, Luc had chuckled before and maybe laughed a bit, but this was the first time he had properly laughed, a full-blooded, throwing back the head kind of laugh. Despite the fact that I knew it was at my expense, I couldn't help a slow smile spread across my own face at his obvious happiness. After a few seconds, I got tired of being embarrassed and poked his arm.

_Tell me!_

"He was just calling you my girlfriend, but more colloquial- how would you translate it… He said 'and you must be my cousin's… chicken?'" He looked at me to see if I understood the slang, and now it was my turn to burst into laughter.

"I think…" I told him between gasps, "you mean 'bird', not chicken!"

I managed to control my laughter, although my lips kept twitching, and the introductions carried on. It seemed that Damien, who was Luc's cousin, had a strong relationship with Luc and vice versa. I stored that one in my head to ask about later, but with all the people around, I thought it would probably be better in private.

Just then, a man shouted for quiet and everyone found a seat on the sofas dotted around the room, the kids on the floor and the adults in the seats. Some cheeky ones got shoved off by their elders and I was flattered to be offered a seat by an uncle I had yet to meet, but I declined politely and sat on the floor with Luc, who, needless to say, still hadn't let go of my hand, which I was eternally grateful for. He sat leaning against an armchair leg and pulled me so that I was leaning against his chest instead of being backrest-less. I smiled shyly at him, glad that he was taking the initiative and moving on in our relationship.

I was distracted by the beginnings of the speech from the guy who had shouted for quiet, not that it finally was quiet. I totally got what Luc said about his family's loudness driving him nuts. Sometimes, quiet people like us needed a break. I linked into Luc's head so that I could get any words I didn't understand translated and saw that he was the leader of the Renou clan- his name was Pascal.

"Okay, so you all know why we're here." He paused, smiling at Luc and I. "We finally have what we've been waiting for, for many years now. It seems we're doing something right, like the Visionary told us, and now we're back on track. As the Champion of our clan, I'd like to officially welcome you here, Anna. I hope you feel you belong here as much as we do."

I blushed at all the eyes on me whilst casting a questioning thought at Luc. Apparently the 'Champion' was another word for leader. Huh, Virtuoso, Aces, Charmed, Champions, didn't it ever strike these people that the names they had were a bit pompous and quite vain? I felt Luc's chest move in a silent snort at my thought and I ignored him, taking advantage of the slight pause to clear my throat and smiled at Pascal.

"Thank you. You've… made me feel very welcome"

_Full marks for effort, but maybe a little too enthusiastic,_ I added (in my head obviously, where there was only one observer). Pascal continued.

"But this is not the only reason we've all gathered here. It seems that the Watson clan, despite them being stripped of their powers and even dead, have resurrected and are now targeting Anna here. Luc?"

Pascal raised his eyebrows at Luc, who gave a short account of all that had happened in the past week and a half. I felt ashamed when he glossed over about me avoiding him for a week and getting us both sick because of my stubbornness. He added that Maggie, the Visionary, was personally looking into it whilst they were there and keeping an eye out in case Marcus decided to return. Pascal thanked Luc and addressed the group once more.

"Although an unintentional result of the attack was actually a very happy conclusion, something needs to be done about Marcus and it needs to be done before the Reunification, which is in 10 days. We cannot just sit around when one of our family is in trouble."

I realised that the clan was finally doing what it should have done when Luc's grandfather was alive- to act. They couldn't just sit around, waiting for someone else to sort out their problems. I saw that Luc was, for the first time, incredibly proud of his family, and I lightly traced the tattoo on his wrist with my fingers, glad that I would be part of this. I had only ever had a vague idea of what I had been missing with my absentee mother and distracted father. I had been lonely without realising it.

_And now you have us. We are your family now._

I smiled at the thought of having a sister and cousins (he had a lot). I decided to be cheesy again.

_And I have you, don't forget that._

_I wouldn't dream of it._

The meeting dissolved into a load of family talking and I was introduced to more people since it was much more civilised now. A lady came over and introduced herself to be Emily, Pascal's wife. She spoke English with an Australian accent, and I belatedly realised that all the women had to have some from a different clan.

"You must be feeling a little lost with all the nattering in a different lingo," she told me, smiling. She was blonde and looked to be in her mid-forties and smiled a lot.

"When I first met the family, there was a heck of a lot less of them for one, two I had a French mother so spoke French, and three we were already ascended when I met them, so I was in Pascal's head, so he could translate much more easily than when we weren't ascended. Oh, and I was an Acce anyway, not a human, so I was perfectly used to this stuff- I was twenty-four, the normal age for imprinting, as well! You seem to be perfectly at home here. I mean, I would've run for the hills screaming if I was in your position."

I turned red as I recalled that my week of denial was my version of running for the hills, screaming, as Emily put it.

_Ah, but the difference is, you came back,_ Luc reminded me.

_True_. Emily was watching us with a knowing smile and I realised she knew we were talking inside our heads. Blushing again, I replied.

"Well, I got all the running and screaming out of my system at home, I think," I told her honestly, and she laughed. I realised that she wasn't one of those people that smiled for the sake of smiling, she smiled because she was genuinely happy and put people at ease- even people like me who was not good at talking to strangers… well, at talking full stop. I longed for her contentedness.

"I see Luc's got you trapped as well, so even if you wanted to run you couldn't!"

Luc squeezed my hand and I glanced sideways to see him looking at me with an expression on his face that made my stomach jump. Instead of swallowing, blinking lots and looking at the floor with cheeks flaming, like I normally would, I gazed back at him and bit my lip, dropping my gaze when I couldn't take the blazing emotion in his eyes. To be honest, it terrified me, but this was progress. Baby steps Anna, I reminded myself.

"Oh, I remember when I was just imprinted. Pascal couldn't keep his hands off me and I pretty much looked like a tomato the whole time…"  
"Aunt Emily!" Luc protested, making a face, but I found it more cute than embarrassing.

I also met Amélie and Damien properly. Amélie was actually fourteen and had her mother and brother's hair colour, but whilst her mother's hair fell in soft waves, her long hair was straight. Amélie also had braces, which she kept picking at because, in her words, they 'itched'. But she had only just got them so I supposed she'd get used to them. It seemed that practically all the Renou clan had dark brown eyes, except Luc, whose were that unique shade of hazel. In this light, they had a warm gold tint to the browny-green mix. I was pretty sure I could stare at his eyes all day, but I had to meet people.

Damien was 20 and the council member Philippe and his wife Marcella's only child, but since children weren't allowed at the palace, he didn't get to see them often. So, Damien pretty much lived with Luc and his family- that explained why they were as close as brothers. I could definitely identify with the whole not seeing the parents thing, but seriously, what kind of society forces those in power to separate from their loved ones? I guessed that if there wasn't the whole 'need to be with the imprint or you die' thing, spouses wouldn't even be allowed. I realised how much Maggie's work was cut out for her now.

_Actually, don't bring it up, but Damien used to have an older sister, but she died a few years ago now._ I sent Luc a questioning thought but he just told me later. But that made me think of the last time he had said later to me- when he had breathed it in my ear. My heart sped up just thinking about it and Luc's hand tightened on mine. I could tell he was amused by my heart's reaction, although he didn't show it. His mask was on.

Because people were moving around, we decided to sit on the sofa; or rather Luc had claimed the love-seat for us. The women had disappeared to do lunch and various children were called to set the tables outside (I did a rough head count and I think there were around 25 of us. As practically everyone had introduced themselves already (I would never remember all their names, so it was lucky I had Luc to remember them for me), we were alone on the love-seat for a few minutes and Luc gave me a rough family tree. It seemed that his grandparents had eight children together; only two of them girls, so since the women joined the husband's clan, there were six families, all with children, ranging from 24 to 3 years old. All I could think was that it was a lot of lunch. Luc was one of the oldest grandchildren and was clearly looked up upon by all his younger cousins.

I realised that this family was so forgiving, and Luc could only wonder at their complete acceptance when he came back. They didn't judge him, they just forgave him and moved on. But Luc had tried to tried to make up for or at least heal his past wrongs because he became the perfect brother, nephew, cousin and son. He was amazing- how could I compete with that?

_Don't start that again, Anna_, Luc's teasing voice echoed through my head.

_Okay, let's call it quits- neither of us deserves the other._

_Hmm, that's a little pessimistic, don't you think? I prefer to say that we both deserve each other._

He had leaned in and I realised we were probably making a sick-inducing display of staring into each other's eyes, but looking around, I saw that chunder was not, in fact, flying everywhere. There were a few sideways glances, but they were happy ones- ones from people who had experienced that heady rush when their Significant touched them and the constant urge to be with them the whole time. There were also quite a few emotional gifts in the Renou clan such as Jerome, Luc's father, who could sense emotions, and Thomas, one of Luc's uncles, who could sense if someone was hurt, emotionally or physically. His wife could heal physical pain, which was pretty cool. I was definitely looking forward to superpowers.

The room began to empty as everyone rushed outside for lunch and Luc and I followed, arms swinging between us as we maintained the skin contact that had not been broken since we got here. I sighed. Definitely clingy girlfriend. But oh well, my boyfriend gave me a shot of calm every time we touched. What's your excuse?

By the end of the day, I had decided that I was in love with French food. Having 6 amazing cooks prepare authentic French nosh was amazing._ So here I was admiring your cooking skills when it was all from your mother and aunts _I had told Luc teasingly as we were eating.

_Hey, my mother only taught me the basics,_ he had defended himself. I was too busy eating to reply, not that I had needed to use my mouth to talk to him.

Now, we were heading upstairs to his bedroom and I actually felt nervous. His room in England was impersonal, not the one he stayed in permanently. His real room would be different. It would give me an insight into who he was- bedrooms spoke volumes about a person.

Taking a deep breath, I followed Luc into his room and stood in the entrance, taking it in. It was a bit messy, but not very, it just looked 'lived-in' messy. It was pristine compared to my own. The walls were a soft brown that reminded me of his hair colour and the bedspread was green. From analysing the contents, I got that Luc played the piano and guitar, didn't really do video gaming (if his dusty x-box and few games were anything to go by- I thought it was probably for Damien's sake), liked reading and was a football goalie. Way to go, Sherlock Holmes. I had not known that he played. How did I not know that? I sat on the edge of his bed and put my head in my hands. I was a terrible girlfriend.

"Lucas Alexendre Renou."

"Huh?" I was confused. He sat next to me and took my hand again.

"That's my full name- you were wondering?" He asked teasingly. "Now you have to tell me yours," he bargained.

"Anna Marie Fairclough."

"Anna," he told me quietly, bringing his other hand up to touch my cheek and guide my face so I was looking at him.

"We met only a week and a half ago. We have plenty of time to get to know every little thing about each other. In fact, I want to get to know you, but I know already that you are not some terrible girlfriend."

I finally allowed his touch to take away my anxiety and sighed when the calm washed through me.

We got ready for bed and sat together in silence, each absorbed in our own thoughts. Today had not been as scary as I had anticipated. Sure, Luc's family were loud and not like him at all, but I had felt at home with them and Luc had helped me be strong by barely letting go of my hand all day. My heart sank as I realised how weak I had been. Today was supposed to be about me comforting Luc and helping him be strong for his family, but it had turned out that I was weaker than him and had needed his strength more than he needed mine.

_That is not true!_ He contradicted fiercely. _And if you looked in my head, you'd see it was true._

I reached out my mind and saw that his mind barriers were fully down. I saw his mask that hid his true feelings and went past it. I looked into his mind and saw his vulnerability, his pain at hurting his family, his lingering resentment, his self-hatred at what he did when he ran away. Then, I saw in the centre of his mind and his heart, was me. I saw his need to protect me, to help me, to be strong for me, I saw his fierce determination to care for me, but I also saw his own need to be protected, to be helped and to help him be strong. I was the person that kept him strong. Without me, he wouldn't have been able to find the strength to endure the attentions and expectations of all his family at the same time for long. He really did need me.

His hand brushed my cheek as I realised this, followed by an awareness of how close he was. He moved slowly closer to me and I closed my eyes in anticipation. When our lips brushed, it felt like electricity was flowing through his lips to mine. He deepened the kiss and I leaned into him, fireworks going off beneath my eyelids. His hand dropped from my face, only to find my waist and bring me closer to him as his lips sped up and became more forceful. His hands moved from my waist to my back and ran along my spine and pulled me to him as his tongue brushed along my bottom lip, seeking entrance. Without even pausing, I allowed him in, but I couldn't hold back the breathy moan that escaped my lips when his tongue slid over mine. I was embarrassed for a split second before he made his own noise, a growl at the back of his throat as his hands tightened. My own hands had been around his neck, but now I entwined them both in his shaggy hair.

We both pulled back at the same time to breathe and Luc rested his forehead against mine. Both of us were panting slightly and my heart thundered in my chest, which I knew he could also hear. He kissed my forehead, then my cheek, very close to my mouth, lingering a few seconds, before lying down and tugging me down with him. I settled into him so that my head rested against his chest and my hand lay on his heart, underneath my own. His arm came around me and he kissed my forehead again before turning off the light.

_Goodnight Anna._

_Goodnight, Luc._

* * *

**So I suck at writing kissing stuff, sorry... any pointers would be helpful.**

**Just out of interest, what actor/actress do you see as any/all of the characters? I surf random pics for someone I think looks the part but I want to hear what you guys think.**

**See you next time :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**I haven't done a disclaimer in a while. Shelly Crane owns the Significance series and her characters, I own my OC so do not copy me or I will hunt you down and I will kill you ;)**

**Okay, so the next three-ish chapters are going to be full on. Please review, it really helps me!**

**Enjoy :)**

**Chapter 10**

I woke up to the sound of Luc's heartbeat. Hmm. I guessed that if I touched him for a while, his heartbeat would make its way into my chest, whilst he heard mine all the time. I saw that Luc was still asleep, with his arms wrapped tightly around me and I smiled at his sleeping form.

I tried to carefully disentangle myself from him, but he just pulled me tighter towards him and nuzzled his face into my neck, murmuring slightly. It was my name, and something else that sounded like "shtem". I froze, giving up and tried to keep myself breathing normally whilst his lips were pressed against my neck, almost on my pulse. My chest was doing funny bunny hops and my stomach was fluttering. It was amazing how I reacted to him, but more amazing that I knew that it was all me, not my body or my imprint.

I thought back to the previous evening, when all the imprinted couples met for an official clan meeting. This was obviously the first one that Luc had been to. The last couple to have imprinted was Luc's cousin Anne, 10 years ago, who had moved to Australia with her husband's clan, which meant that we were the only ones from the generation below their parents attending. Pascal took out the clan object, a small bronze coin that looked very old, and put it on the table. Luc explained that it passed down Champion to Champion and that it was used to call meetings. Pascal began, looking grave, Luc interpreting for me, as ever.

"We are here to discus what must be done about the threat from the Watsons. It is not good to assume that they are safe, even here in Paris. So, I think it's best if you two stay in the house or with ascended members of the clan as long as you're here…"  
"What?!" Luc interrupted angrily. "But…"  
"Luc! You know it's dangerous for both of you. Marcus and Sikes know you're imprinted, they know what clan you're from."

"Uncle Pascal! Do you think the Watsons would be stupid enough to try and attack us here, in the midst of a clan far more powerful than them and in our own city? Not to mention the Lapointe clan, right here in Paris as well! They'd have to be mad, and from what I know of Marcus and Sikes, they're cunning, not stupid."

Pascal sighed, running a hand over his face. Emily touched a hand on his neck to calm him, and when he spoke, it was with sadness.

"Luc, you know we can't take that risk, even if you believe it is safe. You know what happened with Maddie, and I know it was different," he held up a hand to stop the interruption which was about to come from Luc. What happened with Maddie? Pascal continued.

"I know what happened with Maddie was different, but we cannot risk any more lives, especially yours, not when we've hardly got you back."

He finished softly and I knew Luc hated to be reminded of his running away, but it seemed to have the desired effect. Luc closed his eyes, shaking his head. His hands were occupied gripping his head, so I brushed my fingers over the bottom of his back, just underneath his t-shirt. His head lifted and he looked troubled.

"Uncle Pascal," he sighed, "I know you need to protect us, so although I don't like it, we won't go out without protection," he finished. Everyone relaxed around us slightly and Pascal looked relieved.

"But," Luc continued, looking hard at Pascal, "we can't just hide away, we need to try to find them, or we'll always be living looking behind us for the enemy. We have to fight back." His eyes were blazing and his fists clenched and I could practically feel the anger rolling off him in waves.

And I saw that it was all for me- he was furious at the Watsons for coming after me, for trying to hurt his Significant. He was too angry though, practically shaking, so I put my hand on his back again and rubbed in small circles. His eyes flicked to mine and my stomach clenched at his expression. It was still a bit angry, but he was grateful and also wanted to kiss me right then and there, so I blinked and looked away, cheeks reddening. That was not going to happen in front of his whole family, including his parents. Oh and everyone had caught our little exchange and were smiling knowingly to their own Significants. Great. My cheeks got even redder as I saw Luc was still staring at me, the anger fading even more but replaced with an emotion that looked a lot like… love. I quickly cut off my mind from his when I realised that he might love me. If he didn't, it was quite possibly heading that way.

I froze as I realised what he had murmured this morning- "shtem" could quite easily have been… je t'aime. Now, that could mean 'I like you', but since the French didn't really use "je t'adore" for people, it could also be… I love you? I panicked slightly. I wasn't ready to say 'I love you' to Luc, although the way things were going… but I couldn't think about that now, I had to think about Marcus. Casting the thought of love out of my head, I opened my mind back up to Luc, who had a questioning look on his face, having felt me close my mind off and my heart accelerate.

_Marcus_, was the only reply I gave, and his face cleared. He gently took my hand off his back, his rueful smile telling me I couldn't do that in public because it would probably end up with him kissing me quite a lot. I grinned cheekily back at him and squeezed his hand, telling him I understood, but that it didn't mean I wasn't going to touch him in front of people. He gave me a look that told me I'd better not try being flirtatious in public; he knew where I was ticklish. I stuck my tongue out at him. It was like with me and Lillian- we could have entire conversations with facial expressions, not speaking a word. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, to know that we were that in tune with each other already.

He pulled me into his side and I snuggled against his shoulder as the adults argued about what to do and where to look for Marcus. Pascal could see long distances, so could spot Marcus if he tried to come near. Emily, who could run very fast, and one of the other aunts who could teleport, would catch Marcus if he tried to run. Arnaud and Fleur, who were the eldest there since Luc's grandfather and grandmother were both dead, could trap Marcus using their skills of manipulating ice and fog and another aunt and uncle, who could see hurt and heal physical injuries respectively, would be on the lookout for everyone. This family really complemented each other, but I had yet to find out what Luc's parents could do.

_Maman can see memories, when she touches someone, and papa can sense people's emotions, if he can see them. He tells me people really do have an aura and different emotions show different colours._

That was pretty awesome. For the second time that day, I couldn't wait to find out what we would be able to do.

Eventually, despite Luc's scepticism that Marcus would even come to France, let alone Paris, it was sorted out that each couple would take turns to patrol and search the city. Taking a deep breath, Luc offered to help them, finding a map of Paris and pointing out various places where his family needed to check thoroughly. I realised that this probably stirred up bad memories for him and squeezed his hand for support. He squeezed mine back in thanks and gave me a brief smile, but I saw his eyes were still haunted.

It was late once all of the plans were made and we had gone upstairs as soon as we were no longer needed as we were both tired from the early start that morning. Now, as I reflected on the events of last night, I mused that Luc was probably right about Marcus not coming to Paris, but it was best to make sure. Our relationship had begun to progress at a much faster pace than before- I was completely comfortable in his presence and couldn't get enough of his touch. I had pretty much spent 24 hours clutching at his hand, or him clutching mine, and whilst to a normal person that would completely be overkill, Luc's family treated it as normal- it was normal, for them. I never thought I would go from the girl who would be embarrassed to hold her boyfriend's hand in public to someone who readily snuggled with him in front of complete strangers and slept in the same bed as him with his family's complete knowledge and consent.

I jumped when a voice murmured sleepily in my ear before I realised it was Luc.

"Since you've never been to Paris, how would you like to go and see 'la cité d'amour… chaperoned, of course?"

And so we did. Luckily, our chaperone was Emily, who kept a discrete distance throughout and I barely noticed she was there. Actually, a lot could've passed me by that day and I wouldn't have noticed- I was too wrapped up in Luc. He took me to the sites, the EiffelTower and the Arc de Triomphe obviously, but also places only a native Parisian would know; places like the café that sold the most delicious cream tea in Paris, and at half the price of the touristy ones and the smallest and oldest bridge in the city, the 'Petit Pont'.

We also visited the 'Pont des Arts' which was a bridge covered with locks. There was a romantic legend where a couple would inscribe their names onto a padlock and lock it to a bridge, throwing the key into the river to symbolise their love. Luc led me over to a corner where he told me every couple in his family had engraved their names and locked a padlock. They were all different shapes and sizes, but they were somewhat separate from the rest, creating a family corner. Closing off my mind to Luc for a second, I swore to myself that, when I was ready, mine and Luc's names would be inscribed on a lock on that bridge. But not yet.

It had been agreed that we would stay in Paris until the whole family went off for the Reunification, so we were to stay for nine more days, which I fully expected would be filled with Luc and getting to know Luc's family. Every day, we became closer, more in tune, and we both opened up to each other. I was so happy and I saw Luc's father Jerome couldn't help but smile every time he saw us because he could literally see my joy. Luc's broken relationship with his family, although it was mostly healed already, became practically non-existent, which he insisted was due to me, a statement which I repeatedly denied. I couldn't make his family like me, nor could I make him like his family, but we were both stubborn, so no agreement was reached.

Since I was English, and English people are cynical and pessimistic, of course, I should have known it couldn't last, that somehow, the bliss I was currently living in would be shattered by just two words.

"Hello Anna."

He had found me. He strolled forward, fingers trailing along the locks on the bridge. His mouth lifted in a mocking smile.

"Touching, isn't it?" he sneered. "True love never fails, unlike locks, right?" His hand found a lock with two names on it. Maddie and Jacob. My heart froze. It was with the Renou locks. Was that… the Maddie who had died? But Luc had told me the last person to imprint had been over 10 years ago, and Maddie had been 19 when she died, which meant… what?

Marcus' wandering hand found another lock. It was a small, simple brass lock, with two names I could just about read inscribed on it. Anna and Luc. But we hadn't…

"Figured it out yet?" Marcus mocked. I gasped- I was dreaming! Marcus was right in front of me and I was suddenly murderously angry. I was not giving up without a fight, not this time. When he reached out to grab me, I did something I had never dreamed of doing; I punched Marcus in the face.

Unfortunately, I was not strong enough to draw blood, something that seemed to happen easily in films, and he was barely fazed. He slapped my face, then grabbed my hair, pulling and trying to injure me as much as he could, hissing when his skin touched mine, but holding on. He hit me, and again. His hands grabbed at my arms, my legs. I tried to run, but he grabbed my waist and swung me round, letting go quickly as it burned him. I tried to run again, but he grabbed both ankles and I fell hard, jarring my wrists and grazing my hands. Wildly, I looked along the narrow bridge. No-one. The city was silent except for my yells and Marcus' grunts as I tried to fight him off. There was no-one. I was alone. But wait, not completely alone, no, there was one person who had sworn to never leave me, not even if I left him.

_Luc!_

I screamed with every fibre in my being, both out loud and in my head.

Laughing, Marcus slapped my face, grabbed my arms then wrapped his hands around my throat. His face was set in a vicious snarl.

"Lover boy's gone and left you. He won't save you. And, or so I've heard, you can be killed, even in a dream. I doubt he'll care since he left you to me."

"NO! LUC!" I choked. I couldn't die. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if I died, Luc would die too. I had met him two and a half weeks ago and had known him for less time than that, but I knew that if Luc died, I would not be able to carry on living, and the same was true of him. I was losing consciousness, my vision blurring out. I fought more weakly now, feebly pushing at his hands on my neck. Luc.

_ANNA!_

* * *

**Okay, so I'm evil, I'm sorry. But I'm secretly cackling. Is it sadistic that I enjoy the action chapters? Um, yes, yes it is... oops. I'll probably post chapter 11 on Monday or maybe you'll have to wait till next Saturday. I'm currently on a roll and have it written in advance (go me) so, depending on the reception of this chapter, I will see you on Monday or Saturday.**

**Until next time... :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi everyone! I know it's not my usual update day but I was held up yesterday (when I had intended to post) so it's here now ;)**

**I've included a small Luc POV in this chapter and I'd love some feedback about what you thought of it. I won't do it often, I've decided, I just thought it was necessary to get Luc's side of things at this point. More plot revealing! **

**A small bit of bad language this chapter, just a couple of words. I feel I have to warn you.**

**Chapter 11**

I heard voices, lots of them. They were all talking above each other, shouting around me. Funny though, although they yelled above me, I felt like I was above them, floating somewhere near the ceiling. There were so many voices, but not the one I needed. Where was it? My brain was not conscious enough to translate. The voices made no sense.

"Simplement fait-le!"

"Je peux pas Luc, tu sais que je ne peux pas!"

"Non… Non! Tu dois être capable de faire quelque chose! S'il te plait. Elle est ma vie. Je peux pas la perdre."

"J'ai fait tout que je peux. Tu sais que je peux seulement guérir des blessures physiques! Tu devras l'emmener à la grand-mère de la Visionnaire- elle peut l'aider…"

That was Luc? What was he doing? I needed him. He sounded so broken. Where was I? What had happened? I remembered the echoling, but how had I managed to fall asleep without Luc and so be susceptible? An involuntary groan passed my lips as I tried to take a deep breath to ask something, anything. My breath was choked and I could barely move. I remembered Marcus' hands on my throat, in my hair, around my waist. I felt sick.

"Juste aller!"

The shouting voices receded and there were no sounds apart from my laboured breathing and another person, taking hitched breathes.

My hair was brushed away from my damp forehead.

"Anna?" Only that voice, that was what I needed. My eyes struggled to open and fluttered, trying to find the one person I needed. Everything hurt and I groaned again as I finally won the battle with my eyelids. Luc looked haggard and that was a nice way to describe it. He hadn't shaved, so I could see the dark stubble shadowing his jaw. His eyes were hollowed by dark rings around them and his hair was dishevelled. But his eyes, they were the worst. Haunted and looking darker than I'd ever seen them, I saw an ocean of pain in them. My mouth was the next battle. Struggling with my numb mouth and a throat that didn't seem to be working, I tried to ask how long I'd been under but it just came out as a half mumble. I cleared my throat, wincing, and tried again.

"How long?"

"Two days."

Two days?!

"What… what happened?"

"I… couldn't wake you up. You got out of the dream, but… you were still asleep."

I struggled to sit up, frightened of how weak I had become. I couldn't even lift my own body. Luc leaned forward and supported me, lifting my torso and helping me settle the pillows behind my back. Once I was steady and sitting, he retreated swiftly. I frowned. His mind was closed to me and he seemed almost… afraid to touch me. What was going on? I caught a glance of my arm and suddenly took notice of myself. My whole arm was covered in offence marks, the blackened handprints showing how many times Marcus had hit and grabbed me. It sickened me that my skin showed a lasting impression of Marcus. I decided to stop trying to figure out what was making Luc act so weird and just ask.

"What's wrong?" Wrong question. The previously perfectly blank face of my Significant twisted.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a shaking voice which barely contained his fury. "You have just been attacked and almost killed and you are asking _me_ what is wrong?

"Luc! What's-"

"No! Think about yourself Anna." His hands, balled into fists, were shaking. "I don't deserve your concern. I don't even deserve you, but you're stuck with me and I couldn't… I couldn't save you! I can't protect you Anna!" He choked and looked close to tears. I needed to comfort him, and my body did too, but I was too weak to move.

"Luc…"

"No! I can't, I can't hear you tell me it's alright, it's not alright." He cried. "I wish the imprint had never chosen me, that it had gone to someone else!"

Luc didn't want my comfort. I had always prided myself on being emotionally strong and I was certainly not known for outbursts of any kind. I had barely known this guy for two weeks. Stupid, stupid idiot! I had become so emotionally invested in Luc that I didn't see what had to have been blindingly obvious- Luc would always see me as a liability, a weakness that he had to look after. I was an idiot for investing myself so much in so short a time and I had been punished for my stupidity.

My heart felt like it had stopped. Luc wished he had never imprinted with me. My heart felt like ice, ice that was cracking. Tears poured out from my eyes and I shook all over. My body failed me and I collapsed blindly onto the bed, sobbing silently, blocking out the world around me. My body hurt all over, but that was nothing compared to my heart. There were many voices above me again, shouting louder than they were when I woke up, but I was below them now, so far below in my own personal hell. They were trying to talk to me, but I didn't really notice. He didn't want me. Luc didn't want me.

…

**Luc**

I hated myself. Truly, I was a piece of shit, shit that even a dog would turn its nose up at. I had let Marcus near her and she had almost been killed as a result. I didn't deserve to live, let alone be her Significant. When I told her I wished it wasn't me who had imprinted on her, I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her and tell her I loved her, but I couldn't. It was better for her to believe that I didn't deserve her and then she would find someone who did.

_Why?_ I screamed in my head, to someone, anyone. _Why me?_

She was caring, kind-hearted, passionate, stubborn, beautiful, mine. But she didn't deserve to be mine. How could she when I was broken, weak, damaged goods?

I had moved to the corner of the room, knowing that Anna couldn't look at me. My knees were up to my chest and my head was in-between them, hands gripping my hair. Uncle Thomas had obviously felt the high emotions in both of us and everyone had come running to find out what was wrong. Most people were by Anna since she was crying buckets and her whole body was shaking. But she was completely silent, like me. She must have realised what I was. I was a terrible creature, not worthy of her tears. She probably hated me- no she did hate me, of course she did. I couldn't protect her and she had paid the price. Anyone would hate someone who was supposed to be their protector but had let them get hurt, even by accident.

The voices continued for hours. I stayed in the same position, not moving as the commotion continued above me. People tried to speak to me but they got no reaction. I was a sick piece of… eventually, a voice came that I couldn't ignore

"LUCAS ALEXANDRE RENOU!" They were back from patrol. Lifting my head, I looked at my mother and father with blurry eyes.

"Papa, save it," I tried to say but Maman got in before I opened my mouth.

"Listen to your father Luc." I got up slowly, my body willing my feet to run to Anna, to erase the negative emotions in my Significant- the emotions that I had caused. But I planted my feet and crossed my arms.

"Quoi?" _(what?)_ I meant for it to sound irritated, but my voice broke halfway through and it came out as a broken noise. Papa looked at me with his serious eyes and said one sentence.

"Anna thinks you don't want her."

_Merde_, what?

How had I misunderstood her reaction so completely? How had she misunderstood my words so completely? I wanted to collapse on the floor again and yell, but I couldn't because my Significant was in pain. Because of me. And even though she needed to know how useless I was, I was worsening the wrong I had committed by hurting her more. So I stumbled over to the bed. Everyone parted before me, becoming silent immediately. I really didn't want an audience.

"Go," I managed to gasp at them. They all went.

**Anna**

I vaguely noticed that the voices had gone quiet. Good, maybe they had got the message that I wanted to be alone. A long silence. Then:

"Anna." A voice I couldn't ignore. But I did. What could he say that would break my heart more? I kept my eyes squeezed tightly shut and the pillow I was hugging to my face that smelt of him- okay I needed to get rid of that pillow, it was surely not helping things- did not move from my face. Luc sighed.

"Okay, I guess this is going to be a monologue… I- I don't… I don't even know what to say."

I waited. Despite myself, I waited for something.

"Anna, I… I'm so sorry." That was not what I expected. My eyes opened and I turned my head so that I was looking at him. His head was resting on the edge of the bed and his shoulders were slumped, as if he had the weight of the world on them. Something wasn't right about what I had thought. The conversation that had occurred when I was just on the edge of consciousness surfaced, but this time I could make sense of it.

_"Just do it!" Luc sounded desperate._

_"I can't Luc, you know I can't!"_

_"No…" he whispered. "No! You must be able to do something!" His voice cracked. "Please," he whispered. "She is my life. I can't lose her"_

_"I've done all I can." Luc's aunt sound tired and upset. "You know I can only heal physical wounds! You must take her to the Visionary's grandmother- she can help her."_

So I was his life one minute, the next he's telling me he didn't want me? How did that work? Trying to clear my fuzzy head, I shook it and blinked lots, rubbing my temples. What had Luc said?

_"I wish the imprint had never chosen me, that it had gone to someone else!" he cried. _

But then, he had been talking about how he didn't deserve me. What was that supposed to mean? The words echoed in my head.

_I don't deserve your concern… I couldn't save you… I can't protect you Anna… I don't even deserve you… You're stuck with me._

That didn't sound like rejection. What had my befuddled mind been thinking? I was such a stupid idiot!

Then, it hit me. I finally remembered how I had fallen asleep without Luc. It was the evening of the day we had gone for a day trip to the seaside with the whole family and I had needed a shower after swimming in the sea. I had made Luc go first because I took longer, and then sent him downstairs before me. When I got out the shower, I had somehow managed to lie down on the bed, because I was lazy, and had fallen asleep. How did he think that was his fault, in any way whatsoever?

"Luc," I told him firmly. "Damit, Luc, look at me!"

He lifted his face. Tears glistened on his cheek, and he lifted a hand to wipe them, but I grabbed his wrist. I reached to brush them off myself, but he jerked away from me and stood up, moving away from the bed.

"No Anna! Don't try to comfort me- I don't deserve anything you give me."

Why wasn't he getting it?

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes momentarily. Dragging myself to the edge of the bed and swinging my legs down, I didn't even bother to untangle myself from the sheets. I tried to stand up and walk a few paces to where Luc had half-turned away from me and was gripping his head, but fell over on my weak legs. It had sapped almost all of my strength to get up and drag myself those few steps.

I hazily thought that I was going to hit the floor hard; I didn't even have it in me to try to break my fall. But I didn't. I fell into strong arms, reminding me of the first time that happened. He was going to help me to the bed, but I gripped his arms to hold me up, preventing him from moving me.

"Luc, listen to me." I kept my voice fierce and low as I spoke, hopefully preventing him from interrupting me. "I don't know what alien robot stole your memories, but from what _I _remember, it was _me_ and not _you_ that sent you downstairs and it was _me_ and not _you_ that was the lazy bones and lay on the bed and it was _me_ and not _you_ that fell asleep without my Significant!" I was practically shouting by the last line and feeling even dizzier than before. Breathe Anna. "Why are you beating yourself up about something that isn't your fault?" I finished softly, shaking my head.

"But it was my fault, don't you see? I should never have left you alone, not even for an hour, I should have known better, especially since-" he cut himself off as he saw me sway and swept my legs from under me, carrying my now practically unresponsive body to the bed. He sat down on the bed with me in his lap and sighed, not finishing the sentence.

"Luc?" I asked warily. "Especially since what?" He stiffened and I knew something had happened before that he thought was his fault and probably wasn't. "What happened?"

Luc's arms tightened around me and I knew it was not going to be good.

"When my grandmother was alive, _grand-père _was just a normal grandfather. No-one could have guessed what he would become after _grand-mère_ died."

Wait, what? What did this have to do with what happened? I held back my questions and waited.

He sighed. "Anyway, my cousin Maddie always was a free spirit; she did what she wanted- she was never taken in by _grand-père_, she stood up to him. But I was a coward and ran away.

"I didn't even see any of my family for a whole year. But one day, I went back. I saw Maddie that day, on the 'Pont des Arts', and she was with a man. I could tell they weren't imprinted; one she was too young, two, the imprints had stopped working by then and three they looked incredibly nervous together, like Maddie knew they weren't supposed to be together.

"I kept coming back, every day at the same time for nearly a year. I saw them lock their own lock on the bridge on their anniversary and, right then and there, they imprinted. It was pouring with rain and the river was running high, the wind was howling, but they were oblivious."

"They imprinted?" I interrupted. "But surely they were together before…" I trailed off in confusion, my thoughts bouncing around wildly.

"I guess they just weren't ready yet," Luc gently brushed a strand of hair from my damp forehead. "Anyway, Jacob, although I never found out his name until afterwards, was human so was really confused but they both looked so happy. I was about to stop spying on their obviously private moment when I saw _grand-père _coming towards them. They jumped apart, but he already knew." Luc shook his head, closing his eyes at the painful memory. "Somehow, he already knew they were together, and came for her. He tried to drag her away, and she was getting offence marks. She got offence marks from her own grandfather... Jacob tried to pull _grand-père_ off her and he managed it, but they were too close to the edge, and the fence was weighed down already by the locks, and…" I gasped.

"Neither of them could swim and there was no-one around- it must have been midnight or later- so there was nothing Maddie could do, standing on the edge… Even a strong swimmer would have been in danger in that river, but I had to try and save Jacob, so I jumped in after them. But they had both disappeared under and when I heard Maddie's scream, I knew there was no hope, she had felt it…" I covered a sob with my hand. Poor Maddie. I knew how it felt to be without your Significant, and especially since he was her boyfriend before, but I had no idea how it felt to have your Significant die.

Luc's voice sounded dark when he spoke again. "I got out when I realised I couldn't do anything in the water and ran to Maddie. She looked at me and smiled, but I could see the grief in her eyes. She said to me 'Luc, go back to them'. And before I could react, she- she…" Luc's voice got stuck in his throat and he clenched his jaw.

"She what?" I asked gently, with a sense of dread.

"She… jumped in after them." Luc shook his head, his fists shook slightly. "Without a sound. Disappeared under immediately and…never came back up. I… couldn't do anything. The waters were too high, I didn't have a phone. So I had to run all the way home and- and tell them what had happened!" Luc didn't continue.

I put my arms around his neck and held him close as he breathed heavily, trying to hold in his anger. I realised now why he had blamed himself for my mistake. It had happened before and he thought it was his fault. But it wasn't. He had done all he could to try and save Jacob and I didn't blame him for not even trying to save his grandfather. That worthless bastar… ahem, person.

I saw now; I had truly got to the bottom of Luc's problem. He had a blaming complex which caused him to hold himself responsible for anything that went wrong, even if it wasn't his fault. I suddenly realised that our minds were still closed off from each other.

"Luc?" I asked him gently, pulling back slightly when he didn't respond. "Luc. Open your mind." I cautiously extended my mind out and found his mind unguarded.

_Luc. Listen to me. _I grabbed his face with both hands and looked deep into his eyes. He watched me, anger and self-loathing still in his eyes. I decided to attempt to show him a memory- after all, if you could share thoughts, surely you'd be able to share memories?

I showed him every time he had comforted me or helped me or protected me. I showed him how it was my fault that I fell asleep and I hoped I had finally got across that he wasn't to blame. _So don't you dare go feeling guilty,_ I finished, looking at him sternly. I saw that I had won the argument, for now, but that he still believed he didn't deserve me. _Oi, I mean it. We deserve each other. If we didn't, then why would we have been put together, huh? It could have been anyone in the clan, and it chose _you_. I don't hate you and I never will. I never could,_ I told him, putting my hand on his chest. _There's a reason my heartbeat is with yours._

Finally, I had got to him. One of his hands rose from my waist and brushed away the tears that were trailing down my cheeks. When had I become such an emotional wreck? And sickeningly cheesy, to boot! I shrugged. You know what? I liked being cheesy.

My body had finally had enough; I slid to one side and could no longer hold myself up. I remembered Winifred telling me that offence marks took away your energy- I guess that was why my head was feeling so fuzzy. Luc carefully laid me down on the bed and held my hand with a worried expression. I felt cold and shivery and my forehead was damp.

_We need to get you to Caleb's Gran._

**It's unlikely I'll get to update next week as I haven't quite finished the next chapter and I'm going away for a week but I hope the wait will be worth it- It's probably my favourite chapter so far! **

**See you next time! :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay so this is a long chapter but I couldn't split it as there wasn't really a good place where I could. Happy reading! (P.S. See if you can spot where the cover image ****scene ****is in this chapter)**

**Chapter 12**

The next day was hazy for me. I slept most of the time because I was so weak. I remembered Luc's family driving us to the station and seeing us off- not all of them, just Pascal and Emily, Luc's parents and his sister Amélie. Pascal and Emily's five children were at home with Arnaud and Fleur, the eldest couple. A wheelchair had been found for me and the handprints were mostly covered by long sleeves, sunglasses and a hat. It did look like I had a big birthmark on my face though.

I don't know how Luc managed to get me in the wheelchair, as well as both our cases, around the stations, but somehow, we got back home, where Winifred was waiting anxiously for us, obviously already in the know. I held up my hand and looked at her seriously.

"Before you say anything, it was my fault and mine alone. Please don't blame Luc, he already blames himself enough as it is."

Winifred just shook her head, helping wheel me into the sitting room. "It's Marcus' fault," she said simply, before calling Caleb in.

Maggie followed him, looking worried, came over and gave me a hug, whispering in my ear that she was sorry she hadn't seen a vision for the attack.

"It's alright," I told her weakly as I was lifted onto the sofa by Luc. Winifred did not look happy as she looked me over; in fact she looked murderously angry. I remembered Luc telling me that her husband had been killed in an echoling and I realised how close I had come to being killed myself. Looking around, I saw all the faces looked more than angry. Maggie and Caleb kept exchanging looks and my Significant's face was dark with anger. I rested a hand against his cheek to calm him down, but he didn't look much better.

"Alright, Anna girl," Winifred began. "This is gonna hurt, so Caleb is gonna have to hold you down as well as Luc." She got herself ready, positioning her hand on my ankle, the lowest mark on my body, and nodded Luc and Caleb. Luc knelt beside the sofa, his upper body laid over me and his hands holding my arms down, whilst Caleb held my legs tightly in his arms. I swallowed and gritted my teeth. Here we go.

"Ready?"

I took a deep breath. "Ready."

Each time Winifred removed a mark, I struggled to keep my lips tightly locked so a scream wouldn't escape. Luc was in agony with me, hating that I had to go through all the pain, but there was no choice. I had to have the marks off; I was too weak with them. After every mark that was removed, Luc rested his forehead against mine and kissed the corner of my mouth briefly. Eventually, there were only the ones on my neck left. They would hurt the most. Luc and Caleb repositioned themselves so I was even more secure in their grasp and Winifred looked hard at me.

"You ready, brave girl?"

I gave a short nod. In slow motion, I saw Marcus' face solidify as the memory began. I couldn't stop the memory of his face as he throttled the life from me, or the feelings of hate that came from him and the terror that came from me in those moments before I lost consciousness. The pain that came from removing the last offence mark broke my resolve and I uttered a short cry before locking my lips again and squeezing my eyes shut.

Once it was over, I opened my eyes and realised that I had been thrashing around so much that Caleb was only just hanging on to my legs and Luc was gritting his teeth as he held me down. I opened my mouth to apologise but Caleb waved me off, telling me that I couldn't help it. He had done the same with Maggie, when she had first been attacked by Marcus.

I felt exhausted, but not drained like I had when the marks were taking my energy. I was just weary from all the drama of the past couple of days and the flailing about just now. Luc scooped me up in his arms and carried me up to his room to sleep. I protested that it was only just past lunchtime, but he cut me off, insisting that I sleep and that he would stay with me. Well, it was true that I hadn't had much deep sleep last night, despite being so weak.

So I fell asleep, comfortable in the arms of my Significant, once again. He thought he wasn't worthy of me? He was far better than I ever could be- I wouldn't have forgiven my family as easily as he had. He thought he was weak? He was stronger than I could ever be. He had endured his grandfather's abuse, he had lived life on the streets, and he had witnessed the death of his grandfather, his cousin who was practically a sister to him and her Significant. He was amazing. He was mine.

…...…...…...

I woke up the next morning, amazed at how refreshed I felt. I was practically the opposite of what I had been yesterday. There were no blemishes on my skin, caused by a certain heinous person, and I was no longer exhausted. I couldn't believe that I had slept right through yesterday afternoon and all night without waking up. I was also feeling really alert, not like I had just slept for 17 hours straight.

My phone beeped at me and I shifted in Luc's arms to reach it. It was a text from Dad.

**Do you have any idea when you'll be back? Mum's gonna be home in 2 days if you wanna see her?**

I suddenly felt really guilty. I had practically abandoned my dad for the past two weeks and I could tell he was upset, even though he didn't mention it. I decided to lie to him to make it a bit easier. Unplanned trips were not really my thing and dad would definitely get suspicious if he found out I was going to London for a week just after I had got back from France. Not to mention it was with unspecified friends.

**Not yet but I recon I'll be another week at least… when's mum going again?**

I also found a text from Lillian, asking if I wanted to come round. The guilt redoubled as I realised that not only had I abandoned Lillian, I had and would have to constantly lie to her.

I took a deep breath and decided to tell her at least some of the truth. I had to come clean about Luc. Fingers hovering over the surface, I thought hard about what I was going to say.

**Hey! :D Sorry, been away in France… back today so we could go cinema if you're up for it? :) I'm away again tomorrow and I also have a confession to make but I need to do it in person… xxx**

Her reply was quicker than I'd ever seen her reply.

**Yoyo! :D How was France?! I didn't even know you'd gone! Who with? :) How about 'Guardians of the Galaxy'? I can do the 2.15 showing? I NEED TO KNOW! Who is it? I'm very impatient now… I'll get popcorn if you get tickets? Xxx**

"Wow, she's quite excitable!" Luc murmured from behind me.

"Not really, we just text really strangely to each other- and talk for that matter- and we kinda need to know every little detail of each other's lives… it's a weird relationship," I replied, smiling. We had met when we were 11 and had been best friends ever since. I texted a quick reply to Lillian:

**Sure! I'll tell u about it later, it was great tho. Is it ok if I bring someone along? Don't ask who- it's a surprise! And bring your bf… Laters! Xxx**

I turned my phone off so I wouldn't see any more of her curious questions and be tempted to tell her the truth and put it on the bedside table, before rolling onto my back and sighing.

I felt Luc's arm curl around me and I snuggled into his side, resting my hand against his chest where I could feel his heartbeat and mine, both slightly accelerated.

"So what do you want to do today then?" Luc asked, covering the hand on his chest with his own and rubbing circles over my knuckles.

"Stay in bed all day with you," I mumbled, turning my head so it was nearly buried in his shoulder. Luc gave a small chuckle and lifted his arm to stroke my hair, playing with the strands, before rolling over slightly, where he promptly lost his balance and fell out of the bed, nearly pulling me off too.

Once I had regained my balance, I saw him look up from the floor to see me trying to keep my laughter in at the sight of him with his tousled hair and sprawled on the floor with a grumpy expression. It didn't work, because I suddenly lost it when I saw his facial expression and began laughing.

"Meanie," he muttered as he got up and glared at me. I began to giggle again when I saw his pout, which made him look very cute but still very funny at the same time.

"Laughing at my misfortune," he placed a hand over his chest and looked hurt, but I just laughed again.

"Come on; let's go to the park or something, it's warm today."

After yet another amazing breakfast of crêpes, we walked to the park, hands swinging between us. Maggie had put her foot down, insisting that she come too to be our bodyguard, in case Marcus decided to turn up. Whilst having a babysitter wasn't ideal, I realised that it would be a bad idea to go without protection and I agreed, although grudgingly.

At the moment, Caleb and Maggie were sitting on a bench together, most likely having a mind conversation. I was on the swing, rocking gently using my feet, before I felt the seat being pulled back and I was given a big push. I yelped at the sudden change in speed but laughed when I saw Luc pushing me with a grin on his face. He pushed me higher and higher until I got to the point where you can't go any higher because the chain's lost tension and you thump down on the seat on the way back down.

Swings were my favourite part of a park- when I was young I always felt so free and I almost felt like I could fly. Today was no different- with my boyfriend swinging me and the dark clouds above... it was the happiest feeling.

I shivered once and looked up to see very dark clouds descending on us. I jumped off the swing midair and we made our way over to where Maggie and Caleb were quickly packing up the remains of our picnic. A summer storm was on its way and I heard an ominous rolling boom of thunder, closer than I would have liked. We were going to get wet, I realised.

"You guys go back, we'll head straight for the cinema," I called to them above another rumble from the sky. Maggie protested, shaking her head.

"What if Marcus comes for you again?"

"Marcus won't try anything in broad daylight, not with so many people around!" I objected, gesturing to the fleeing people. They both eventually agreed and then we scattered. Why had I not grabbed a raincoat? I should have known the weather would turn bad.

Luckily we managed to run through the doors of the cinema just as the torrential downpour began, having only got a bit damp. We collected the tickets and got a hot chocolate to share from the Starbucks in the cinema whilst we were waiting for Lillian. I was running through the scenarios in my head of what to tell her when I felt Luc's hand brush mine under the table.

_Don't worry about it,_ he told me, his serious eyes locked on mine. They had a dark brown tint to them in the subdued light coming through the windows. _Lillian will be fine. She's not going to stop being your best friend because you got a boyfriend. She's bringing hers,_ he pointed was true…

_But what if she sees that we're different, that our relationship is not exactly conventional? Lillian knows me so well. She knows it's not like me to rush into a relationship with practically a stranger. What if-_

_Stop worrying, Anna._ Even in his mind, his accent wrapped around my name like it was the most precious thing. I shivered involuntarily at the sound of it in my head and was immediately embarrassed at my reaction. I dropped my head, my cheeks reddening. I thought I was over this whole embarrassment thing.

_Hey. _He squeezed my hand to make me look at him. _Don't be embarrassed. I don't want you to ever feel uncomfortable around me._

How did I manage to get this guy? He was so sweet and-

"Anna!" Lillian's voice was quite close and I jumped at the interruption of my thoughts.

"Lill!" I replied and jumped up to hug her tightly. We had only seen each other a week and a half ago but it felt like so much more because of everything that had happened in-between.

"So who's this?" she asked as she pulled back and eyed Luc warily. Here we go.

_Let me talk first._

"Um, this is Luc. He's French. Luc, this is Lillian," I began and Lillian took his hand, greeting him warmly.

"Um, Luc is…" I gulped and blinked a few times, taking a deep breath to gather my courage. Luc took my hand subtly in his own and I felt a little calmer so I was able to get the words out. "Lill, Lu-Luc is… my boyfriend."

Lillian stood still for a moment, her mouth slowly opening in surprise. It lasted so long I was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"Lill? You going to say something?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. She shook her head to clear it, before a huge smile broke out on her face.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" She jumped up and down a couple of times before pulling me into another hug, squeezing the life out of me. I still didn't let go of Luc's hand, giving him an amused look over her shoulder.

Eventually, Lillian pulled back with a big smile on her face, just as Ben, her boyfriend, walked up with several big tubs of popcorn.

"Hey Anna," he smiled at me and shook hands with Luc and greeted him.

"He's Anna's _boyfriend_," Lillian told him pointedly, earning her an exasperated look from me.

"Good luck!" Ben told Luc, laughing when I huffed in objection and glared at him. "Well, he needs warning!" he protested, still smiling.

"Hey! Don't be mean about me!" I complained and made a face at him. I smiled suddenly, realising that I had power.

"What?" He asked warily, seeing the new glint in my eye.

"Oh nothing, just, you know…" I fanned my face with the tickets we had. "…it's hot in here, right?"

Ben narrowed his eyes at me. "Fine," he rolled his eyes and I grinned in victory. My threat had worked.

"But I still have the popcorn."

"Damit Ben!"

…...

It was still raining when we came out of the film, two and a half hours later. There were mini rivers running down the street and the downpour showed no signs of abating. I wouldn't have been surprised if there were flash floods, it was raining so much. Lillian and Ben had walked as well, but unlike us, they had brought raincoats, so were okay. It had been a warm day so I, on the other hand, was wearing a grey chiffon strappy summer dress with small white spots and sandals with a cardigan. Not exactly ideal rain weather. Lillian lived in the opposite direction and a bit further away so headed off pretty swiftly, hugging me tightly and whispering "I will call you later!" ominously in my ear and leaving Luc and I to prepare.

I decided to put my cardigan in my shoulder purse, since it would get wet anyway, and grimly surveyed the greyish haze outside. I also slipped my sandals off since they would get soaked as well and held them in one hand, looking over at Luc, who was staring intently at the rain outside with a strange expression. I saw in his mind that he was thinking of a similar rainy night, two years ago. The night he lost them.

_Hey. I'm here._ I took his hand gently in mine and squeezed it tightly, wishing I could do more to heal the hurt and anger in him. A hand squeeze and a shot of calm, that was all I could offer.

"No," he whispered, taking his eyes off the driving rain and looking at me with the same intensity. His phone buzzed but he ignored it. "You are all I need. You don't need to do any more than be here." _As long as I have you, I'm okay._

_And all I need is you._

How the heck had I managed to get this guy? I knew I had said that a lot and I probably wouldn't ever stop saying it, but it wasn't like Luc would ever believe he deserved me.

I loved the rain. I used to change into shorts and a t-shirt, run out into the garden and just stand there, letting myself get soaked, arms outstretched. When I watched the Shawshank Redemption, I was amazed that I hadn't been the only one with that idea. Now, I laughed as Luc pulled me along with him along the pavement, heading for home. There was no-one else on the street, they were all hiding in shops or wisely staying at home, but I caught the curious eyes staring at the soaking barefoot girl laughing in the rain.

We were very close to home now and had slowed down to walking in the suburban maze of houses. A rumble disturbed the splash of the rain and our footsteps, indicating the start of another storm. The thunder grew more frequent, although the lightning was nowhere to be seen, and the rain, which had slowed a little a few minutes ago, began to pick up again.

We were on the path that connected to Luc's street when I heard footsteps. Probably someone running from the rain like us, but would have been the first person we'd seen actually in the rain rather than in a building. I turned my head for a split second and saw a flash of silver. A watch? I turned my head and let go of Luc's hand, slowing down. In that split second I saw Marcus raise the gun to point at Luc's chest and, as if in slow motion, his fingers begin to squeeze the trigger. Luc turned at my cry and saw him a second after I did. I saw his eyes widen as he realised that he couldn't escape.

But I was already moving. I pushed Luc just as the bullet fired from the gun, surprisingly loudly. As I fell to my knees on the wet pavement, I felt the hard metal bury itself into my flesh, leaving a trail of heat in its wake- but it certainly did not hurt like I expected getting shot would feel.

It was strange how I my senses moved from one extreme to the other- through blurry eyes, I saw Luc sprinting towards Marcus as he fled, but clearly saw the pain, fear and, most of all, anger, in Luc's eyes. The bullet that grazed Luc's arm, not slowing him, came with no sound, but the sound of Luc crashing into Marcus, rolling them both over, seemed louder than the thunder. I couldn't smell the blood I knew was pouring out of my chest, but I could smell the distinct smell of petrichor- rain on dry ground, ground pressed up against my face. When had I collapsed completely? The ground was soft under my face, a pillow, the rest of my body floating, weightless.

Maggie leaned over me, her mouth moving, but my ears couldn't make out the words. When had she got here? Caleb was shouting and helping Luc pin down Marcus. Luc's shout was now roaring through my ears. "I've got her- help Caleb!" his wild eyes, fixed on me as he collapsed to his knees beside me.

Then, I felt it. I realised gun shots hurt. A lot. His hands were shaking as he took off his shirt and pressed it down on the wound in my chest, trying vainly to stem the flow of blood. Rain- or was it tears?- dripped from his face. But it was useless; I felt the bullet in my heart, or at least, very close to it.

_How can you shoot a heart when it belongs somewhere else?_

"There's something important… I need you to know…" I whispered through the haze of pain threatening to take me. I had to stay awake, just for a few seconds. I needed to stay alive for just a minute longer.

"No! You don't have to say this now, it can wait, just save your strength," Luc choked. My breathing was rattling in my chest and I couldn't draw breath. I slowly, reached out to touch his face and I told him the one thing I knew I couldn't die without saying.

_I… I love you_.

He smiled sadly, holding my hand to his face and looking into my eyes.

_And I love you. I loved you the moment I realised you would be mine. _He stroked my cheek and brushed the tears away with his thumb. I dimly felt a tingling sensation in my veins, going hot and cold. I vaguely wondered if this was what it felt like to die.

_No, we're ascending!_

He stared into my eyes, hope burning brightly in his.

_Just a few seconds. Not now, don't you dare give up on me!_

I tried to tell him that I wouldn't, not ever, but my hand fell from his face and my eyes shut without my consent, trying to pull me into the blackness. I held onto the sound of his voice, reassuring me and telling me to hold on, keep going.

And then, just as the darkness was closing on me, I felt it.

The bullet deep in my chest was moving.

* * *

**Please don't kill me! Also p****lease keep commenting, it really helps motivate me, even if it's just a few words.**

**See you next time! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys, sorry about the long wait. I have been super busty getting ready for uni (I go tomorrow!) and I got a bit of writer's block, so this chapter is a bit filler-y, sorry. Please read the A/N at the end for news about updating. The second half is not proofread, I might go back and check it. Hopefully it's okay!**

**Chapter 13**

I gasped at the feeling of the cold metal sliding out of my muscles and Luc gasped with me, holding me tightly. We both watched in wonder as my skin pushed out the bullet and sealed itself up behind it. I picked it up off my chest and saw it still covered in blood. We exchanged a glance as he helped me sit up carefully. My shirt was covered in blood, as was Luc's, and both our hands were slick with it.

I realised that neither of us had said a word since I had recovered, we were both just glad we were alive. I blinked and looked around for Maggie and Caleb, but didn't see them anywhere. Where had they appeared from anyway? Luc pulled me into a tight hug, my head resting on his neck. He rubbed my wet hair with his hand and I finally felt safe.

I suddenly remembered that Luc had been hit in the arm and I pulled back, grabbing his shirt sleeve and pulling it up, but there was no mark. The blood, which was getting washed away by the rain, was still there, but he had no mark to show from the gunshot. Exchanging a wide-eyed look with Luc, I checked for any other injuries he might have had, just as he was doing to me.

We were still sitting on the pavement in about an inch of water, swirling slightly red from my blood. My dress was soaked and I was freezing. It was also beginning to get dark since the cloud cover was so thick. Thunder continued to rumble and I couldn't stop a wave of violent shaking run all through me.

_You're freezing! Come on, let's get you home._

_Good idea. _I probably wouldn't have been able to get the words out past my chattering teeth if I spoke out loud.

He stood up and helped me up, taking my cardigan from my bag, helping me into it and buttoning it up so that it covered the large blood stain on my dress. There wasn't much we could do about his shirt though since he hadn't brought a jacket, so I hoped we could avoid people, which shouldn't be too hard since it was still raining heavily.

I felt… different. Changed. Luc had warned me that the Ascension would change us a lot- physically and mentally. At the time, I had been worried about the closer mind connection Luc described, but now I found myself looking forward to it. As for the physical, hopefully it wasn't so obvious that Dad would notice, although it wasn't like he was particularly observant anyway. Studying Luc carefully, I noticed he looked a little different. He was a bit broader, muscles slightly more defined than before, but the largest difference was in his face. It wasn't one specific thing, more that he looked… older. More mature, maybe. But it was only noticeable to me because I had spent the last nearly two weeks practically glued to him. We hadn't spent a whole day apart since the week after my stupid avoiding him.

A noise distracted me from studying Luc's face. I glanced around in fear, ears straining to hear something over the pounding rain.

_Come on, let's get you home and dry._

_Stay at mine tonight. Dad shouldn't be in so it will be fine._

_Sure._

Luc helped me up and we began the walk home, holding hands. I never wanted to let go of his hand. I had nearly died- but I wasn't afraid for myself. No, I didn't mind dying particularly, it was just what I left behind that I was worried for. I don't know what Luc would have done if I had died just then.

I couldn't believe how close it had been. If we hadn't ascended at that exact moment, I would be lying in a pool of my own blood back on that path back there. Seeing my thoughts, Luc gripped my hand harder and I saw in his that he would make sure that never happened, if he had to jump in front of a bullet himself. He was waiting until I was dry and warm before he got angry at me for taking the shot instead of him. I sighed inwardly. This could be interesting. But for now, we both decided it was not a good time to argue, not when we were both wet, cold and covered in blood.

I looked down at myself and had to laugh at the red stain that was turning my grey dress a mottled pink, even though where it came from was not funny. Luc gave me a look that told me I was crazy, but I just laughed again. I guess it was the only thing I could do because otherwise I might cry. Eventually Luc gave a small smile, one corner of his mouth lifting, but he was more laughing at me rather than with me.

I stopped in front of him on the porch and looked up at him seriously.

"Luc. I... I don't really know what to say. Thank you just doesn't seem right. But you saved me, so... I guess I'll just say it anyway? So, thank you Luc."

"Anna. You don't have to thank me, not for anything. Not ever. I need to protect you and do things for you, but not just for my imprint. Because I love you."

I took a deep breath before replying. What I was going to say could sound cheesier than a soap opera,

"Luc, I'm not particularly one for emotional stuff, I guess you know that by now... anyway, I decided from a young age to never say the words 'I love you' without _really _meaning them. I just hate the way love is cheapened from overuse. With that in mind... Luc, I love you."

And with that, for the first time, I initiated the kiss by leaning forward and pressing my lips against his. Kissing in the rain was every bit as amazing as the films made it look except for the fact that my hands were shaking from cold. But Luc's lips were warm on my cold ones and his breath was warm on my face as he pulled back, giving me a small smile.

"Anna," he breathed, leaning his forehead on mine and closing his eyes. "What are you doing to me?"

"Same question."

He chuckled as I grabbed the keys from my wet purse and opened the door. We left a trail of water on our way to the kitchen, where I planned to make a cup of tea.

"Yes please, tea monster," Luc answered my unspoken question, chuckling again at my love of the hot brown liquid.

I had filled the kettle with water and was just putting it on to boil when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist from behind and a body press against my back. Leaning back into Luc's embrace, I rested my head against his shoulder and tilted my head back so I could look at his face- a feat only short people with fairly tall boyfriends can do without straining their neck. His hazel eyes had a swirl of chocolatey-brown in them in the subdued light from the storm. I would never get bored of looking at his eyes; they seemed to have an infinite range of hues, something I had only seen in one other person- his mother. I couldn't help staring at them for who knows how long- it was long enough for me to get embarrassed at my level of creepy and for Luc's smirk to widen into a full-blown grin as he saw me staring.

"What?" I defended myself, blushing. _It's not like everyone has colour-changing eyes. Surely you get stared at sometimes?_

_Nope. At least, not like you are right now. But do carry on- I'm enjoying it._

"Hey!" I whacked him lightly on the chest before turning my attention to the kettle, which had boiled whilst I had been gawking like a lost puppy at him. He didn't let go of my waist, which made things a little difficult with the tea, but I could definitely deal with it if it meant he was closer to me.

I jumped and nearly spilled water everywhere when Luc rested his head on my shoulder. I flicked his nose in response and finished making the tea. Luc waited until I had left the tea to brew- yes, tea, like all good things, must be made properly, and that means leaving it to brew- before kissing my cheek. He unwrapped one of his arms from my waist, using it to brush the hair away from my neck on one side, before pressing a soft kiss on the side of my neck. I couldn't stop the embarrassing startled breath that escaped my mouth, but Luc obviously seemed to like it. He smiled against my skin and replaced his other hand around my waist.

It seemed like our relationship was moving on. I was still embarrassed about my reactions to him, the way I sighed like a vapid teenager when he kissed me, but overall, I was comfortable with him. But not the 'comfortable' that shows a relationship that is going nowhere, but the kind where you can imagine yourself married to- wait, what? But this time, I didn't shy away from my future. I had seen it myself. Unless the future was changed, I would be with this man for a long time, certainly. As for married, well, we would have to see. But I wasn't going to lie to myself anymore- I _loved_ Luc, for goodness sake! I felt secure, safe with Luc.

"I love you," I whispered again. Then, "Eugh, I'm turning into... into a, I don't know, an emotional person? I sound like Bella from Twilight," I turned around in Luc's arms, disgusted at myself.

"Well, if you're Bella that means I'm Edward- doesn't that mean I have to pout all the time or something?"

I could see the expression on Luc's face now that I was turned around and my stomach jumped at his expression. The tea was long forgotten.

"No. I'll just stop being Bella," I mumbled, looping my arms around his neck. He hummed in reply, leaning forward to kiss men. As nice as it was for me to initiate the kiss, showing the progress of our relationship, or rather the decline of my nervousness and fear, I preferred it when he kissed me rather than the other way around. I would hate to be a guy. I mean, they traditionally always do the initiating- asking someone out, proposing etc... I would be such a wimp.

The feel of his lips on mine did strange things to my body. My insides felt like they jumbled up and my heart raced like I was doing a sprint finish. My lips felt tingly where they connected with his, and his hands, one on my lower back and one between my shoulders, left trails of fire when they moved.

"Anna."

I'm sure everyone has been called by their full name when their parents are cross, but you know they are beyond angry when they don't even do that. I jumped backwards from Luc at the sound of Dad's perfectly calm voice that spelt danger.

_Oh sh- dear. This is not good. Don't say anything, I'll handle this. Or at least try._

"I think you should leave." Dad spoke quietly to Luc, but I jumped in before Luc could do anything.

"No, Dad, at least let me explai-"

"You can do your explaining when this 'young man' is out of the house."

"He's not going anywhere." This was highly unlike me. Dad was always very easygoing, excepting on the subject of guys, despite me leading a fairly nun-like life, we barely ever fought and I never stood up to my father like this.

_Anna, no._ Luc's voice cut through my protests to my dad.

_He's not going to listen if you're defying him. We can always sneak, although I don't want to._

Luc squeezed my hand once before making his way to the door, nodding at me right by the exit.

When the door shut, Dad's expression morphed from the eerie calm to irate. "What, the _hell_, was he doing here?" he shouted.

Dad never swore. Ever. He rarely shouted. So yes, he was angry.

"Dad-" I tried, but was interrupted immediately.

"No." He started off more calmly, but by the end he was shouting again. "I don't want to hear it Anna! I find you in here with a guy, kissing, no less, and you expect me to be 'cool' with that?!"

"Dad, you asked me what-"

"Anna, what were you thinking?" He threw his hands up in the air. "You know what I've said about boys, I've always been very relaxed about you, but you _still_ defy me?"

"Dad, if you would just please-"  
"Anna, I am your father and you need to do-"  
"just _listen_ to me Dad!"  
For the first time, he didn't try to interrupt me, just stood with an almost disappointed expression, mixed with the anger, and crossed his arms, waiting for me to explain.

"You asked me what was going on and you didn't let me tell you!" I took a deep breath. This was not how I wanted to sound. "Dad," I began, much more calmly. "Luc... Luc is my boyfriend." Dad made to interrupt but I held up a hand. "Please wait until I've finished, Dad." He shut his mouth and waited again. I clasped my hands nervously and began.

"I have never shown much interest in boys. You know that, so I don't even know why you have such strict rules about dating. But- wait until I've finished Dad- I realise that this was probably not the best way of telling you that I had a boyfriend. I admit I was wrong in keeping it from you, but Dad." I sighed.

"I'm 18 now; you've got to let me make my own mistakes, when it comes to boys. I know you only want to protect me, I get that's why you made the rules so strict, but you can't protect me forever. Did you think I was never going to move out, get married, have kids?" I shook my head, pursing my lips and looked at the ceiling to keep from crying.

"Please, give Luc a chance. I lo- like him. He's it for me. I'm sorry Dad, but even if you don't agree, I can't- I won't stop seeing Luc. I'm an adult and can make my own decisions now, but I would really love your approval, or even just tolerance." I finished my speech, blinking back tears as I waited for Dad's reaction.

There was silence for a few seconds. Dad kept his face smooth so I couldn't judge his reaction from his expression. He opened his mouth a few times, thinking carefully about what he was about to say before finally speaking.

"Anna. You should have told me. You should have told me you were going out with him, and that's why I'm angry. I think I always knew this would happen someday. Although I think it's a little early to be talking about him being 'it' and I know you almost said you loved him. You shouldn't be attached too much in case it doesn't work out." He held his hands up. "I don't want to be the voice of doom and gloom, but just, please, be careful. Don't let him break your heart.

"I will meet him, and you better tell me about him as well. I'll make judgements once I hear the full story."

"Thanks Dad," I said, relieved that he was back to being Reasonable Dad.

Now at this point, some parents would do the reconciliation hug, but Faircloughs didn't really do emotional stuff, like we didn't do long gushy speeches. So, I was very surprised when Dad pulled me in for a hug, something he hadn't done in a very long time. I have to admit, it was a little awkward. But it was nice, and when we pulled away we were both smiling.

"So, tell me about him then," Dad grabbed the other cup of tea and sat down on the sofa with a huff. I took the other and sat down on the sofa opposite, tucking my legs under me.

"Um, well, his name's Luc, he's French, from Paris actually, he's eighteen as well..."  
"French, you say?"  
"Yeah, but he's going to uni here- the same college, actually."  
"Wow, did you know this when you met?"

"Nope, it was a complete surprise."

"So when did you meet him?"

"Um..." did I tell him the truth to have him freak out about how close we'd got in that short amount of time? "Not long?" Why did I sound like I was asking it?

"How long Anna?" Dad surveyed me above his teacup, one eyebrow raised. He did an impressive eyebrow raise, one which I was very jealous of.

I sighed internally. He would definitely know if I was lying.

"About three weeks ago."

Dad merely nodded, before continuing the interrogation. "What's he studying?"

"Biology."

Dad nodded approvingly. Let's just say he was a little sceptical of arts subjects... "What exactly are his intentions with you?"

I nearly choked on my tea. "What do you mean by that?!"

"I mean 'what are his intentions?'"

"Seriously Dad?" Nope, he was being serious. "We're going out? I don't know what to say..."  
"You really don't know what I'm trying to ask in a... delicate way?" Dad winced.

"What are you trying to ask?"

Dad sighed. "You asked for it. Are you two having sex?"

Oh no! Not the birds and the bees talk! It wasn't like I'd exactly had one since Dad and I didn't really have 'talks' exactly.

"NO! No way!" I was firmly principled. No sex before marriage. Call me old-fashioned, but that was just my opinion.

"Oh, good," Dad seemed relieved. I was slightly offended.

"You really thought I was having sex with someone? Give me some credit Dad!" I grimaced.

"Oh come on Anna, you've never had a boyfriend before, I don't know what to expect!"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but I'm still hurt you had to ask!"

He stood up with his now empty teacup, effectively ending the talk, and ruffled my hair. "You'll forgive me."

"Hey!" I protested at the ruffling of the hair, not that it was perfectly styled before; I had just come in from the thunderstorm of the year, which was still going on.

But his coming closer had an undesired consequence. His eyes widened as he saw my cardigan, which hadn't done much to cover the blood stain on my dress.

"Anna?" He asked slowly. "What...? Is that... blood?"

Lie time. "What? Oh, that." I looked down at myself and laughed, hoping it didn't sound forced, whilst my heart drummed frantically in my chest. "I spilled a load of tomato juice on me at lunch."  
"You drink tomato juice?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, no, I just wanted to try it. Only it didn't go so well..."

"And...?"

"Well, I don't know, do I, it didn't exactly end up in my mouth!"

"So you're saying you didn't even have one sip?"

"No, not enough to make a judgement."  
He didn't look entirely convinced, but let the subject drop and walked off, talking vaguely about a shower. I relaxed, letting my body drop sideways so I was half-lying, and sighed, relaxing. My phone began to ring, so I pulled it out and saw that it was Luc.

"Hello?"  
"Anna, are you alright? I could feel your heart getting all... agitated and then it started to beat really fast and I knew you were worried and-"  
"shhhh!" I shushed him, laughing at his word vomit. "I'm fine, just had a close call with the red on me. That reminds me of 'Shaun of the Dead'..."  
"What?"

I sat up suddenly, gasping. "You haven't seen 'Shaun of the Dead'?! You. Are. Watching. It. Very. Soon. And 'Hot Fuzz'. That's even better, got the same guys in it. They're both great!"

"I will have to take your word for it. What are we doing about tonight?"  
"I don't know," I replied, biting my lip, thinking. "How do you feel about sneaking into the house?"  
There was a pause. "I could do that. For you." His voice was a little husky at the end and my heart sped up noticeably.

"It's nice to know I can get a reaction from you." He heard my heartbeat from two streets away?

"It's always in my chest, remember?"

We made plans for him to come to the door when I texted and I would let him in when I was sure Dad would be asleep- he was a sound sleeper and he was always tired when he came home.

I made dinner for Dad and broke the news that I was going to London for a week.

"So we can meet up then?" That wasn't the reaction I was expecting. I thought he would be disappointed that I was spending so much time away.

"Uh, yeah, sure." I hoped the Reunification let people out. Luc hadn't told me a lot about it, just Maggie and that was only the problems she'd had with the Council.

"Wait, so... when you went to Paris last week or whenever it was, with 'friends'..."  
"Yes Dad, I was with Luc," I sighed. I couldn't pretend to him. Luckily nothing about our strong bond had come up. Yet. Whilst Dad was normally pretty unperceptive, he could notice things when he wasn't in his own little world. Dad sighed, looking troubled.

"So you've known this boy for two weeks and you're already going on romantic day trips with him? Anna, this doesn't really sound like you. You're not a hopeless romantic who falls in love in two seconds. You've always been like me," he chuckled, "down to earth and pessimistic, with a stoic and sensible outlook on life. Not going off to France with some frog you just met."

"I thought I was too," I muttered.

Dad laughed again, having heard what I said. "Don't get too attached. Life isn't like films," he warned.

"Okay, duly noted," I replied. From then on, normal Fairclough house resumed, with no emotional talk, just banter between us.

I loved how I could joke around with Dad, whilst most children would cringe at the mention of 'banter' with the family. We had strange banter in our family. For example, Jaime and I had a wave where we made big eyes and a long jaw and waved with both hands, twisting them side to side rather than moving them. Strange, I know. Not as strange as the jokes I had with Lillian. If I said to you 'pinkle from pinkleton' you would think I was mad, but Lill would make a duck noise and pinch my nose. Yeah. I blame Dad for the weird gene.

When Dad went to bed at 10, I texted Luc to get ready and packed whilst I waited for him to fall asleep. Once I heard Dad's snores drifting down the stairs, louder than the continuing storm, I texted Luc again. He arrived a few minutes later with more suitable rain clothes- an umbrella and a raincoat.

I grabbed his hand and dragged him upstairs as quietly as I could, before shutting my door and, feeling bold, I kissed him forcefully. He responded immediately, dropping his bag and wrapping his arms around me.

I didn't know it was Guy Fawkes Night... because the fireworks in my chest were really spectacular. That kiss... it was the most intimate yet. His teeth grazed my lower lip and I let his tongue in. When we both needed to breathe, he moved his lips along my jaw, gently biting my earlobe and trailing kisses down my throat to my collarbone and the side of my neck. My breathy sighs only fuelled the blaze between us and I was no longer embarrassed because Luc was making noises in his throat too, although his were more growly and manly. It was as if our bodies wanted more and more of each other, my body needed to possess that of my Significant. He was still the perfect gentleman; his hands didn't go anywhere they shouldn't have.

Luc pulled back suddenly, breathing heavily. He took a few steps back from me and turned away, running his hands through his hair. I tried to keep the hurt expression off my face as he paced a few steps, breathing out slowly through his mouth. He looked up, sensing my upset and pulled me into a hug, reassuring me.

_It's just... please don't freak out._

_Go on... tell me._

_My imprint is... telling me to go on. I don't want to lose control._

_You won't. I trust you._

_I don't trust myself._

_Well you should learn to. You have low self-esteem as it is._

_Even if I can control myself, I don't want to even open up the possibility that I will lose it. I can't put you in danger, not even from myself._

I couldn't help but 'aw' at that statement and Luc even blushed, but I vehemently disagreed with it. Before we went to sleep, he kissed the end of my nose and told me he loved me.

"I love you, Lucas Alexendre Renou."

* * *

**The banter above is real between people I know. Don't judge- yes I know weird people. I'm sure everyone has in-jokes, just not as strange as the ones I know of! **

**Also, watch the films and if you don't know what Guy Fawkes Night is, it's the 5th November when we celebrate the foiling of the plot by said man to blow up the Houses of Parliament. We have bonfires and fireworks and it's awesome! **

**Okay, so I suspect I will really not have much time to update until I get settled in uni, so it's unlikely I'll be updating more often than every two weeks. It will most likely be more. Update day will be either Friday or Saturday (most likely!)**

**See you next time! :)**


End file.
